Richard Buzacott

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Richard Buzacott (7 September 1867–10 January 1933), Australian politician, was a Member of the Australian Senate from 1910 to 1923.

Commonly known as Dick Buzacott, he was born at Emu Flat, Clare, South Australia on 7 September 1867. The son of an emu farmer of the same name, he was educated at Stanley Flat Primary School, then worked as an agricultural labourer. From 1891 to 1898 he was a miner at Broken Hill, New South Wales, and from 1899 to 1900 he was in Queensland.

In 1900 Buzacott emigrated to the Western Australian goldfields, mining on the Goongarrie fields near Menzies. He became active in the Labor movement, becoming president of the Menzies branch of the Amalgamated Workers' Union in 1901, and of the Amalgamated Miners' Association in 1903. From 1904 he was President of the Australian Labor Federation. In the elections of 28 June 1904 and 27 October 1905, he contested the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Menzies as a Labor candidate, but was defeated on both occasions by the incumbent Henry Gregory. From 1906 to 1907 he was secretary of the Menzies Miners' Institute.

On 31 March 1908, Buzacott married Mary Lucy Marshall. They would have one son.

On 11 September 1908, Buzacott defeated Gregory for the seat of Menzies in a general election. Gregory then disputed the result with the Court of Disputed Returns, retaining his seat while the matter was under its consideration. Ultimately, the election was declared void, and a by-election was held on 20 November, which Gregory won.

On 13 April 1910, Buzacott was elected to the Australian Senate on a Labor ticket. He took his seat on 1 July, serving as a Labor member until the conscription crisis of 1917, when he was expelled from the party as a pro-conscriptionist, and joined the Nationalists. Over the next five years he served as a member of the Federal Parliamentary Recruiting Committee to Inquire into the Effect of Liquor on Australian Soldiers (1917–18); the Joint Committee of Public Accounts (1920–22); and the Royal Commission on War Service Homes (1922). He retained his seat until 30 June 1923, having lost it in the election of 14 December the previous year.

Buzacott lived in Melbourne from around 1912. Very little is known of his life after politics. His wife died on 10 January 1931, and he died at Balwyn, Victoria, two years later to the day.

Buzacott's brother Nicholas was a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1899 to 1933.

[edit] References

• Black, David and Bolton, Geoffrey (2001). Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia, Volume One, 1870–1930, Revised Edition, Parliament of Western Australia. ISBN 0730738140.