David O'Keefe (Australian politician)

David O'Keefe
Senator for Tasmania
In office
29 March 1901  31 December 1906
In office
1 July 1910  30 June 1920
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Denison
In office
16 December 1922  14 November 1925
Preceded by William Laird Smith
Succeeded by Sir John Gellibrand
Personal details
Born (1864-08-21)21 August 1864
Longford, Tasmania
Died 21 July 1943(1943-07-21) (aged 78)
Nationality Australian
Political party Australian Labor Party
Occupation Journalist

David John O'Keefe (21 August 1864 21 July 1943) was an Australian politician.

Born in Longford, Tasmania, he was educated at state schools before becoming a farm worker and miner. He was involved in the labour movement as a journalist and an organiser of the Australian Workers' Union. In 1901, he was elected to the Australian Senate, running with endorsement from the Protectionist Party, as there was no Labour Party in Tasmania at the time; however, he joined the Australian Labor Party caucus in Parliament. He was defeated in 1906, but re-elected in 1910, serving until his defeat in 1919 (taking effect in 1920).

In 1922, he was elected to the House of Representatives, defeating Labor-turned-Nationalist MP William Laird Smith for the seat of Denison. He was the first Tasmanian to have served in both houses of federal parliament.

He was defeated in 1925 by Nationalist Sir John Gellibrand and worked in Western Australia for some time before returning to Tasmania in 1931. In 1934 O'Keefe was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly, immediately taking the position of Speaker. He held the Speaker's position until 1942 and died the following year.[1]

References

  1. Carr, Adam (2008). "Australian Election Archive". Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive. Retrieved 9 November 2008.
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by
William Laird Smith
Member for Denison
1922 1925
Succeeded by
John Gellibrand
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, January 14, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.