Sid O'Flaherty

Sidney Wainman O'Flaherty (2 July 1886 – 18 November 1967) was an Australian politician. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian Senate for South Australia from 1944 to 1962. He had previously served as a Labor member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1918 to 1921.

Sid O'Flaherty
Senator for South Australia
In office
1 July 1944 – 30 June 1962
Personal details
Born(1886-07-12)12 July 1886
Silverton, New South Wales
Died18 November 1967(1967-11-18) (aged 81)
Adelaide, South Australia
Political partyLabor

Early life and career

Born in Silverton, New South Wales, his family soon moved to Adelaide, where he was raised. He attended the Adelaide School of Mines before becoming an architect and accountant, and later secretary of the Miscellaneous Workers' Union.

Political career

In 1918, he was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly as the Labor member for Murray, serving until 1921.[1][2]

In the 1931 Labor split in the wake of the Great Depression, O'Flaherty became associated with the splinter Lang Labor Party, which supported the ideas of Premier of New South Wales Jack Lang. He unsuccessfully contested the 1931 federal election for Lang Labor, but resigned in April 1932 along with a number of other figures, including sole MP Martin Collaton, who were disgruntled with the South Australian party leadership. They formed the Lang Australian Labor Party with O'Flaherty as party president, but the new party merged into the official Labor Party in September.[3][4] He contested the 1933 state election, standing for the official Labor Party in the seat of Barossa, but was unsuccessful.[5] He was again unsuccessful as the Labor candidate for Thebarton in 1941.[6]

In 1943 he became President of the South Australian Labor Party, but later that year he was elected to the Australian Senate as a Labor Senator for South Australia.

Retirement and death

He held the seat until his retirement in 1961.[7] O'Flaherty died in 1967.[2]

References
  1. "Sid O'Flaherty". Former members of the Parliament of South Australia. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  2. Carr, Adam (2008). "Australian Election Archive". Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive. Retrieved 23 November 2008.
  3. "Scullin Government routed". The Mercury. 21 December 1931. p. 9. Retrieved 31 August 2015 – via Trove.
  4. "Mr. Kneebone Nominates for West Torrens plebiscite". The News. Adelaide. 29 September 1932. p. 9. Retrieved 31 August 2015 – via Trove.
  5. "127 candidates will contest 46 state assembly seats". The News. 9 March 1933. p. 1. Retrieved 31 August 2015 – via Trove.
  6. "S.A's. new men At Canberra No. 5". The News. 21 September 1943. p. 5. Retrieved 4 March 2016 – via Trove.
  7. Bannon, John. "O'Flaherty, Sidney Wainman (1886–1967)". The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Retrieved 6 December 2022.


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