David Robert Hall (5 March 18746 September 1945) was a politician and lawyer in New South Wales, Australia. He came from a political family which included Maggie Hall and he went to leading positions including

Attorney General of New South Wales The attorney general of New South Wales, in formal contexts also attorney-general or attorney general for New South Wales See, e.g. Attorney General for New South Wales v Burns & Ors', ''Leahy v Attorney-General for New South Wales'' and ''Makin ...

Life

Hall was born in Harrietville,

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. His sisters were Margaret Cable Hall who was known as Maggie, Jeanette and Marion and he had several brothers. His parents, Marion and Thomas had a guest house which was used for political meetings including a visit by

Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The first two of his governments belonged to the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, where he led ...

. He studied law at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

before becoming a barrister in 1903. By that time, he had already become involved in state politics, having been elected to 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 House ...

as the member for the rural electorate of

Gunnedah Gunnedah () is a town in north-central New South Wales, Australia and is the seat of the Gunnedah Shire Local government in Australia, local government area. In the the town recorded a population of 8,338. Gunnedah is situated within the Liver ...

in 1901. Hall made a switch to federal politics at the 1906 election, contesting the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

seat of Werriwa for the Labor Party. He was successful, defeating Alfred Conroy, the sitting

Free Trade Party The Free Trade Party (FTP), officially known as the Free Trade and Liberal Association and also referred to as the Revenue Tariff Party in some states, was an Australian political party. It was formally organised in 1887 in New South Wales, in ...

member. Hall represented the electorate until 1912, when he resigned mid-term to return to State politics. At the subsequent by-election, the new Labor candidate, Benjamin Bennett, once again defeated Conroy. On 2 April 1912

New South Wales Premier The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster system, Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales actin ...

James McGowen James Sinclair Taylor McGowen (16 August 1855 – 7 April 1922) was an Australian politician. He served as premier of New South Wales from 1910 to 1913, the first member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to hold the position, and was a key f ...

appointed Hall to the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

and as

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

. Two days later he was also appointed

Solicitor General A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...

. Hall moved to the Legislative Assembly when he won the seat of Enmore in December 1913, holding it until 1920. He was

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

between 1914 and 1919. Hall was Attorney General in the Holman Labor ministry from 1914 until November 1916 when Holman and his supporters, including Hall, were expelled from the Labor Party for supporting conscription. Holman continued as Premier with the support of the Liberal Reform Party,
and Hall continued to be Attorney General, but was no longer Minister of Justice. In 1919 he became Minister for Housing and

Vice-President of the Executive Council The Vice-President of the Executive Council is the minister in the Government of Australia who acts as the presiding officer of meetings of the Federal Executive Council when the Governor-General is absent. The Vice-President of the Executiv ...

until February 1920. Hall was appointed

Agent-General for New South Wales The Agent-General for New South Wales is the representative of the State of New South Wales in the United Kingdom who is responsible for the promotion of New South Wales' trade and economic interests in the United Kingdom, Europe and Israel. Th ...

in London in February 1920, but this appointment was cancelled in April by the incoming Storey Labor government. Hall subsequently had a successful career as a solicitor and ran unsuccessfully for the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four Elections in Australia, federal elections in that time, usually governing Coalition (Australia), in coalition ...

in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in 1937. He died in

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.

on .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, David Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Werriwa Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales 1874 births 1945 deaths Attorneys-general of New South Wales Solicitors general for New South Wales Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Agents-General for New South Wales Members of the Australian House of Representatives Australian MPs 1906–1910 Australian MPs 1910–1913 Ministers for justice (New South Wales)