Harry Turley

The Honourable
Harry Turley
The Honourable Harry Turley
President of the Senate
	In office; 1 July 1910 – 8 July 1913
Preceded by	Albert Gould
Succeeded by	Thomas Givens
Senator for Queensland
	In office; 1 January 1904 – 30 June 1917
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly; for South Brisbane
	In office; 6 May 1893 – 11 March 1899
Preceded by	Abraham Luya
Succeeded by	Abraham Luya
	In office; 22 July 1899 – 11 March 1902
Preceded by	Abraham Luya
Succeeded by	Alec Lamont
Personal details
Born	Joseph Henry Lewis Turley; 24 April 1859; Gloucestershire, England
Died	5 June 1929 (aged 70); South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Resting place	South Brisbane Cemetery
Party	Australian Labor Party
Spouse	Mary Smith (m.1886 d.1947)
Occupation	Waterside worker

Joseph Henry Lewis Turley (24 April 1859 – 5 June 1929) was an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and served as a Senator for Queensland from 1904 to 1917, including as president of the Senate from 1910 to 1913. He had previously been a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly.

Early life

Turley was born on 24 April 1859 in Gloucester, England. He was the son of Agnes (née Oliver) and Charles Turley; his father was a master shoemaker.^[1]^[2]

Turley was educated in Brixham and went to sea at a young age. He arrived in Australia in 1879 and found work in Brisbane as a wharf labourer. He joined the Wharf Labourers' Union and eventually became secretary and president. During the 1890 maritime dispute, he was a member of the intercolonial defence committee organised by William Spence.^[1] He also represented the Queensland Shearers' Union as a delegate to negotiating conferences in Sydney during the 1891 shearers' strike.^[2]

State politics

Turley was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly at the 1893 general election, winning the seat of South Brisbane for the Labor Party.^[3] In 1894 he helped re-establish the Socialist League in Brisbane alongside John Bond and Ernest Henry Lane.^[2]

Turley was re-elected in South Brisbane at the 1896 election, but lost his seat to Abraham Luya at the 1899 election.^[3] Luya died in office a few months later and Turley won back his seat at the resulting by-election by a margin of only three votes. In December 1899 he served as home secretary in Anderson Dawson's government, which lasted only a single week.^[2]

Federal politics

Turley first stood for federal parliament at the inaugural federal election in 1901, unsuccessfully standing for the ALP in the House of Representatives seat of Oxley. He was elected to the Senate at the 1903 federal election.^[2]

On 1 July 1910, he was appointed President of the Senate, a position he held until 8 July 1913. He remained a Senator until his defeat in 1917.^[2]

Turley lost his seat at the 1917 federal election, with his term ending on 30 June 1917. He made unsuccessful attempts to regain his seat at the 1919 and 1925 elections.^[2]

Personal life

Turley married Mary Smith in 1886, with whom he had four children.^[2]

After leaving politics, Turley became a shipping master with the Queensland Harbours and Rivers Department. Turley died in 1929 and was buried in South Brisbane Cemetery.^[4]^[5]

References

1 2 Stevenson, Brian F. (1990). "Joseph Henry Lewis Turley (1859–1929)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 12.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Browne, Geoffrey (2000). "Turley, Joseph Henry Lewis (1859–1929): Senator for Queensland, 1904–17 (Labor Party)". The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
1 2 "Former Members". Parliament of Queensland. 2015. Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
↑ Turley, Henry Archived 3 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine — Brisbane City Council Grave Location Search. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
↑ Carr, Adam (2008). "Australian Election Archive". Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive. Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 16 November 2008.