Walter Peden Joyce Skelton MBE (28 March 1883 – 21 May 1979) was an Australian politician, elected as a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

. Skelton was born in

Boggabri, New South Wales Boggabri ( ) is a small town in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia. It is part of Narrabri Shire and lies between Gunnedah and Narrabri on the Kamilaroi Highway. At the , the town had a population of 856 people. The original town site ...

, ninth child of a railway fettler, educated at Boggabri Public School and brought up as a strict Protestant. In 1898 he joined

New South Wales Government Railways The New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) was the agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in New South Wales, Australia, between 1855 and 1932. Management The agency was managed by a range of differen ...

and in October 1904 he married Annie Porter Gray and they had a son and four daughters. He became a stationmaster in 1908 and worked at

Matong Matong is a town in the central east part of the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The town is east of Narrandera and west of Coolamon. At the 2016 census, Matong had a population of 164 people. Sport The most popular sport in ...

Jerilderie Jerilderie is a small, rural town in the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Murrumbidgee Local Government Area. At th Jerilderie had a population of 922 people. It can be found along the Newell Highway ...

Boggabri Boggabri ( ) is a small town in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia. It is part of Narrabri Shire and lies between Gunnedah and Narrabri on the Kamilaroi Highway. At the , the town had a population of 856 people. The original town site ...

Carrathool Carrathool is a village in the western Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, in Carrathool Shire. In , Carrathool had a population of 296 people. It is about north of the Sturt Highway between Darlington Point Darlington Point is a ...

and Cockle Creek. His wife died in 1912 and he married Alexie Muriel Stewart in 1916 and they had three daughters and three sons. Skelton and fellow members of the New South Wales Protestant Federation reacted strongly to the alleged kidnapping of an "escaped" nun

Sister Mary Liguori A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

in Sydney in 1921 and Skelton created the Protestant Independent Labour Party. In 1922, he was elected first of five members, receiving 25.19% of the vote, for the seat of

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. In parliament, he campaigned for free education,

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

by referendum and the interests of railway workers. He was re-elected in 1925. With the abolition of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

in 1927, he stood as a candidate for the single-member electorates of

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This f ...

, but was defeated by the Labor candidate, receiving 42.19% of the vote. Skelton stood again for the 1928 Hamilton by-election but was again defeated by the Labor candidate, receiving 48.78% of the vote after the distribution of preferences. He was also unsuccessful in standing for the federal seat of

in 1928 and 1931. Skelton helped to establish the National Union of Railwaymen of Australia, a dissident union drawing together members of smaller unions formed by rail workers who had been expelled from the

Australian Railways Union The Australian Railways Union (ARU) was an Australian trade union in existence from 1920 to 1993. The ARU was an industrial union, representing all types of workers employed in the rail industry, excluding locomotive enginedrivers and tradesme ...

for strike-breaking during the 1917 rail strike. He died in the Sydney suburb of

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

, survived by his wife and their three sons and three daughters and two daughters from his first marriage.

Honours

Skelton was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1962 and named "Senior Citizen of the Year" in 1972.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skelton, Walter Peden Joyce 1883 births 1979 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century Australian politicians