John McNeill (politician)

John McNeill (1868 – 14 June 1943) was an Australian politician.

Early life

McNeill was born in Tantanoola, South Australia. After achieving a primary school education, McNeill worked as a shearer and then became a selector at Woosang. He sold his farm to prospect for gold during the Coolgardie, Western Australia gold rush and then returned to Victoria to farm at Macarthur before becoming an organizer for the Australian Workers Union (AWU) in western Victoria and the Riverina of New South Wales. He married Mary Ann Mills in 1896, but she died in 1905.

Political career

McNeill contested the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Glenelg for Australian Labor Party in 1906. In 1908 he tried to farm in Roma, Queensland and then became an AWU organiser in Charleville. From 1913 to 1922 he was secretary of the Victoria-Riverina branch of the AWU. In 1915, he married James Scullin's sister, Catherine. McNeill narrowly won the seat of Wannon in the House of Representatives in 1922 but was beaten in 1925. He won it back in 1929.

On March 2nd 1931, dissatisfaction with the economic performance of the Scullin Government and internal rivalries within the Labor Caucus resulted in the Caucus declaring all ministerial positions vacant and subsequently a new ministry was elected. McNeill was elected to cabinet and was allocated the portfolios of Health and Repatriation. He kept these positions until the Scullin Government resigned on January 6 1932. He lost his parliamentary seat at the December 1931 general election.

McNeill was the General President of the Australian Workers Union from 1939 until his death in the Sydney suburb of Coogee of a coronary occlusion. He was survived by his wife and their two sons, and his two sons and a daughter of his first marriage.cite web
first=J. R.
last=Robertson
title =McNeill, John James (1868 - 1943)
publisher =Australian National University
work=Australian Dictionary of Biography
url =http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100344b.htm
accessdate = 2007-05-31]

References

Persondata
NAME=McNeill, John James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Australian politician
DATE OF BIRTH=1868
PLACE OF BIRTH=Tantanoola, South Australia, Australia
DATE OF DEATH= 14 June 1943
PLACE OF DEATH=Coogee, New South Wales