The Democratic Labour Party (DLP),formerly the Democratic Labor Party,is an unregistered Australian political party. It broke off from the Australian Labor Party (ALP) as a result of the 1955 ALP split,originally under the name Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist),and was renamed the Democratic Labor Party in 1957. In 1962,the Queensland Labor Party,a breakaway party of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party,became the Queensland branch of the DLP.
John William Sullivan is an Australian former politician.
William Meskill Bourke was an Australian politician.
Thomas Sheehan was an Australian politician. Born in Sydney,he attended Catholic schools before becoming an engine-driver and official of the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen. He was involved in local politics as a member of Newtown City Council. In 1937,he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for Cook. In 1940,when the New South Wales Caucus of the Labor Party split,Sheehan joined the Australian Labor Party (Non-Communist) under the leadership of Jack Lang. However,in 1941 John Curtin reunited the party,and Sheehan and the other Lang Labor members rejoined the federal ALP. He held the seat for the rest of his life. Thomas married Annie O'Mara and had four children,Stanley,Thomas,May and Kenneth.
Joseph Francis Fitzgerald was an Australian politician. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives for the Sydney seat of Phillip from 1949 to 1955 and a member of the Australian Senate for New South Wales from 1961 to 1974.
John Michael"Jack" Mullens,was an Australian politician. Born in Ballarat,Victoria,he was educated there at St Patrick's College before becoming a teacher in state schools. Having been active in the local politics of inner western Melbourne as a member of Footscray City Council,in 1937 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the Labor member for Footscray. He remained in the Assembly until 1945. In 1949,he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the new seat of Gellibrand,again as a Labor member. In 1955,together with six colleagues,he was expelled from the Labor Party and formed the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist). He contested Melbourne in 1955. Although he and all six of his colleagues were defeated in the elections of that year,the party itself became the Democratic Labor Party,which was instrumental in keeping Labor out of power in Canberra for twenty-three years. Mullens died in 1978.
Hector James McIvor,OBE was an Australian politician. Born in Melbourne,he attended state schools before becoming a representative for an oil company. He was active in local politics as a member of Footscray City Council. In 1955,he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for Gellibrand,succeeding the Labor-turned-Labor (Anti-Communist) MP Jack Mullens. McIvor held the seat until his retirement in 1972. He died in 1992.
Paul Jones was an Australian politician. Born in Gaffneys Creek,Victoria,he was educated at South Melbourne College before becoming a goldminer and teacher. He also studied at the University of Melbourne for a Master of Arts degree.
Edward William "Ted" Peters was an Australian politician. Born in Melbourne,he attended Catholic schools before becoming a clerk with the Victorian Public Service. He was president of the Victorian branch of the Clerks' Union and in 1934 was President of the Victorian Labor Party. In 1949,he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for the new seat of Burke. He held the seat until 1955,when it was abolished;Peters contested the new seat of Scullin and was successful,defeating member for Hoddle Jack Cremean,whose seat had also been abolished,running for the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist). He held the seat until 1969,when it was abolished,and Peters retired. He died in 1980.
Robert Wilfred Holt was an Australian politician,a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly and,later,of the Parliament of Australia.
Frank Courtnay was an Australian politician. Born in Melbourne,he was educated at state schools and then the Working Men's College before becoming a dairy farmer and later a plumber. He was Victorian and then national secretary of the Plumbers and Gasfitters Employees Union of Australia. In 1958,he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for Darebin. He held Darebin until its abolition in 1969,at which point he retired. Courtnay died in 1980.
John Lawrence"Jack" Cremean was an Australian politician. Born in Melbourne,he was educated at Catholic schools before becoming a clerk. He was secretary to federal Labor minister Arthur Calwell from 1942 to 1945,secretary of the Fire Brigades Employees Union 1945–48,and also sat on Richmond City Council.
John Raymond Martyr was an Australian politician.
John Thomas "Jack" Kane was an Australian politician. Born in Burraga,New South Wales,he was educated at Catholic schools in Lithgow,after which he became a coalminer. He was Vice-President of the Transport Workers' Union 1952–1956 and Assistant General Secretary of the New South Wales Labor Party 1952–1955. In 1955,he was expelled from the Labor Party together with many other members,joining with them to form the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist),which became the Democratic Labor Party (DLP). He was the NSW DLP General Secretary 1956–1971 and the Federal Secretary 1957–71.
Milivoj Emil"Misha" Lajovic was an Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party of Australia member of the Australian Senate for New South Wales from 1975 to 1985. He was the first migrant from a non-English-speaking background to be elected to the Senate.
George Conrad Hannan was an Australian politician who served as a Senator for Victoria from 1956 to 1965 and 1970 to 1974. He was a member of the Liberal Party for all but the last few months of his career,and was known as a strident anti-communist. He lost Liberal preselection in 1973,and the following year announced the formation of a new social conservative political party,the National Liberal Party. He was unsuccessfully in his bid for re-election at the 1974 election and dissolved the party shortly after.
John Albert Little was an Australian politician. Born in Maryborough,Victoria,he was educated at East Brunswick and Thornbury state primary Schools,before becoming a clicker in a shoe factory in Collingwood,and later an official with the Victorian Boot Employees' Union,of which he was Federal President in 1944 and 1945. In 1952,was awarded a Commonwealth Bank Scholarship for six months,to study unionism and working conditions in the UK,Europe and the US. In 1954,he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council for Melbourne North,representing the Labor Party.
This article provides information on candidates who stood for the 1955 Australian federal election. The election was held on 10 December 1955.
The Australian Labor Party split of 1955 was a split within the Australian Labor Party along ethnocultural lines and about the position towards communism. Key players in the split were the federal opposition leader H. V. "Doc" Evatt and B. A. Santamaria,the dominant force behind the "Catholic Social Studies Movement" or "the Movement".
Elections were held in the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday 18 June 1955 to elect 17 of the 34 members of the state's Legislative Council for six year terms. MLCs were elected in single-member provinces using preferential voting.
