Maurice Blackburn

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Oil painting of Maurice Blackburn, 1942

Maurice McCrae Blackburn (19 November 1880 - 31 March 1944), Australian politician, was born in Inglewood, Victoria. He moved to Melbourne with his mother following the death of his father in 1887. He was educated at Melbourne Grammar School matriculating in 1896. After completing school, he attended the University of Melbourne, graduating in arts and law in 1909, and began to practice as a lawyer a year later.

In the same year, he also became a member of the Victorian Socialist Party and was soon editing its newspaper the Socialist. Later, in 1912, he joined the Australian Labor Party.

Blackburn married Doris Hordern in 1914 and later the same year entered the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the Australian Labor Party member for the Electoral district of Essendon, but lost his seat in 1917, due largely to his strong anti-war and anti-conscription stances. He returned to practising law, establishing the firm Maurice Blackburn & Co. in 1921, dealing primarily in trade union law and civil liberties cases.

Blackburn made his mark on Australian politics in 1921 when he led a successful move to have the socialisation of the means of production added to Labor's official platform (this became known as the "socialist objective"). Returning to state Parliament in 1925 as the member for Fitzroy, Blackburn introduced legislation aimed at removing discrimination against women and opposed what he saw as repressive economic measures proposed during the depression. In 1933 he was elected Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, but resigned from the Assembly in 1934 so he could contest the Federal seat of Bourke based on the suburbs of Brunswick and Coburg in Melbourne.

Although he won Bourke and held it until 1943, his relations with the Labor Party were chequered. His support for international socialism and his opposition to conscription frequently caused him to take positions opposed to Labor policy, and in 1937 he was expelled over his membership of the Movement Against War and Fascism. He was soon re-admitted to the ALP but expelled again in 1941 for his support of the Australia-Soviet Friendship League. His expulsion was seen as a warning to other left-wing MPs that violation of party policy was not to be tolerated. Blackburn continued to serve as the member for Bourke as an Independent, voting against the Labor government's conscription bill, but lost his seat at the 1943 election to the official Labor candidate.

Blackburn died on 31 March 1944 in Prahran, Victoria of cerebral tumour and was buried in Box Hill cemetery, survived by his wife, two sons, a daughter, and his mother. His estate, which included a fine library, was sworn for probate at £2552. In a eulogy, Australian Prime Minister John Curtin referred to Blackburn as "one of the great servants of the people of the Commonwealth of Australia." His widow Doris won Bourke as an Independent Labour candidate at the 1946 election and spent much of her time in Parliament promulgating similar policies to those that Blackburn supported.

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Maurice Blackburn And The Australian Labor Party 1934 - 1943 - A Study of Principle In Politics, Author: Blackburn, Susan, Loose Leaf Service:ALP Pamphlet Collection, Folder 3, Insert I, Publisher: The Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, Date Published: 1969, Available at: Unions NSW Library Unions NSW Library Catalog Reference