George Beeby

Sir George Stephenson Beeby KBE (23 May 1869 – 18 July 1942) was an Australian politician, judge and author. He was one of the founders of the Labor Party in New South Wales, and represented the party in state parliament from 1907 to 1912. He fell out with the party and later served as an independent, a Nationalist, and a Progressive. He left parliament in 1920 to join the state arbitration court, and in 1926 was appointed to the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration. He was Chief Judge from 1939 until his retirement in 1941.

Early life

Beeby was born in Alexandria, Sydney, the second son of English-born Edward Augustus Beeby, a book-keeper, and his wife Isabel, née Thompson. Beeby was educated at Crown Street Public School and became a pupil teacher at Macdonald Town (Erskineville) Public School when he was 14. He stood as a Labor candidate at the 1894 election for Armidale, but finished 3rd with a margin of 188 votes (8.8%).

Beeby found work as a journalist and solicitor. He stood as the Labour candidate at the 1904 election for Leichhardt, but again finished 3rd. Beeby stood as a Labor candidate for Blayney at the by-election in January 1907 due to the resignation of W. P. (Paddy) Crick, but Beeby was defeated by 23 votes.

Parliamentary career

Beeby won the seat of Blayney for the Labor Party at the 1907 election. Beeby was appointed Minister of Public Instruction and Minister for Labour and Industry from 21 October 1910 until 10 September 1911. There was a re-shuffle following protests at legislation on land ownership and Beeby was appointed Secretary for Lands, adding the portfolio of Labour and Industry in November 1911. In December 1912 he resigned from the ministry, parliament and Labor party in protest at the power of the extra-parliamentary Labor Party executive. He was re-elected for Blayney as an independent after a close fought by-election on 23 January 1913, with a margin of 136 votes (3.2%). Prior to the 1913 state election, he created the National Progressive Party and ran a slate of 10 candidates. Only he polled over 10 percent of the vote, winning 19.5 percent in the seat of Waverley. His voters helped elected a Labor candidate in the second round. He subsequently announced that his party had failed and there was no room for a third party in New South Wales.

He joined the Progressive Party in 1920, with the introduction of proportional representation and was elected as the member for Murray, with the party winning 15 seats.

Judge

In August 1920, Beeby resigned from parliament to be appointed a judge of the New South Wales arbitration court. In 1926 he became a member of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration bench. In the same year Beeby imposed an award favourable to the Federal Government's industrial policy which the Waterside Workers' Federation rejected. This resulted in strike action and later violence. Beeby was appointed chief judge in March 1939 and was knighted in the same year.

Late life and family

Beeby married in 1892 and had multiple children. One daughter, Doris Isobel Beeby (1894–1948), was a communist party member and sought higher women's wages. His son, Edward Augustus (1892–1984), was (among other things) a musician and playwright. Edward opened the Patch Theatre Company in Perth WA in 1939.

Beeby retired in 1941 and died on 18 July 1942.

Publications

Beeby was the author of

• Three Years of Industrial Arbitration in New South Wales (1906)
• Concerning Ordinary People (1923)
• In Quest of Pan (1924)
• A Loaded Legacy (1930).

Works

• Dregs.
• In Quest of Pan.
• One Touch O' Nature.
• Potter and Clay
• Still Waters.
• The Banner.
• The Creative Urge.
• The Point of View.
• Merely Margaret.

Further reading

Additional sources listed by the Dictionary of Australian Biography:

• H. V. Evatt, Australian Labour Leader; Burke's War Gazette, 1940.

Additional sources listed by the Australian Dictionary of Biography:

• H. V. Evatt, Australian Labour Leader (Sydney, 1942)
• U. Ellis, The Country Party (Melbourne, 1958)
• B. Nairn, Civilising Capitalism (Canberra, 1973)
• G. S. Harman, 'G. S. Beeby and the first Labor electoral battle in Armidale', Labour History Bulletin (Canberra), 1 (1962), no 3
• A. Landa, 'The State industrial system', New South Wales Industrial Gazette, 109 (1953), no 3, supplement
• 'George S. Beeby and the new party', Lone Hand, 1 April 1913
• . Australian Town and Country Journal. 16 January 1907. p. 37 – via Trove.
• . Punch. 19 December 1912. p. 6 – via Trove.
• . Punch. 6 September 1917. p. 6 – via Trove.
• . The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 January 1913. p. 9 – via Trove.
• . The Sydney Morning Herald. 20 July 1942. p. 7 – via Trove.
• . Table Talk. 26 January 1928. p. 17 – via Trove.
• . Smith's Weekly. 10 August 1940. p. 8 – via Trove.
• Kate Baker papers (National Library of Australia)
• G. S. Beeby letters (State Library of Victoria)
• H. E. Boote papers (National Library of Australia)
• Carruthers correspondence (State Library of New South Wales); J. C. Watson papers (National Library of Australia).