Item 4 - The Great National Crisis

John Earle was a Tasmanian politician and trades union organizer. He was MHA for Waratah 1906-1909 and for Franklin 1909-1916, Attorney General and Premier 1909 and 1914-1916 and was Senator for Tasmania in the Commonwealth Parliament 1917-1922. John Earle (known as Jack) was born at Bridgewater, the son of C.S. Earle and Ann Theresa (McShane). He was apprenticed to a blacksmith in Hobart in 1882 and enrolled in classes in engineering and science, economics and socialism at the Mechanics Institute and became friendly with the City Librarian, A.J. Taylor. Later he became a trades union organizer and in 1901 chaired a meeting at Zeehan to form the Workers Political League (which became the Labor Party) and was elected its first president, demanding adult suffrage, an 8 hour day and free education. In October 1909 he led the first Tasmanian Labor Party Government but as a minority it lasted only a week. As Premier in 1914, a year of drought, he imported wheat to keep prices down. He married in 1914 Susanna Jane Blackmore, an ardent member of the Labor Party and a vegetarian and theosophist. They had no children. In 1932 John Earle died of cancer at Oyster Cove and was cremated in Melbourne. For more information see: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/earle-john-6077