Edward Findley (8 September 1864 – 26 October 1947) was an Australian politician and publisher. He served as a

Senator 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 ...

for Victoria from 1904 to 1917 and from 1923 to 1929, representing the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He was also a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1900 to 1901.

Early life

Findley was born in Bendigo, Victoria (then called Sandhurst), and was apprenticed as a compositor on ''The Bendigo Independent'' before moving to Melbourne in the early 1880s to work on the ''Daily Telegraph'', which closed in 1892. He became an active unionist and was elected president of the Australasian Typographical Union in 1897. He established a weekly newspaper, ''The Boomerang'' in 1894, but it ran for only eight issues. In 1896, he helped establish the '' Toscin'', a radical union weekly, which continued in publication until 1906.

Political career

Findley was elected as an Australian Labor Party member for the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Melbourne in 1900, but was expelled from parliament on 25 June 1901 for seditious libel because, as editor of the ''Toscin'', he was held responsible for republishing an article from the Dublin ''Irish People'' which was critical of King Edward VII. Findley stood at the ensuing by-election but was not successful, after the number of Liberal candidates opposing him was reduced to avoid vote splitting. He also stood unsuccessfully for the seat in 1902. Findley won a seat in the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...

at the 1903 election. He was an honorary minister in the second Fisher Ministry from 1911 to 1913, and was responsible in the Senate for matters handled by the Minister of Home Affairs and the Postmaster-General. In 1911, he married Lilian Foyle. He was defeated at the 1917 election, but returned to the Senate at the 1922 election. He was defeated again at the 1928 election. From 1930 until his death, Findley was a government director of the

Commonwealth Oil Refineries Commonwealth Oil Refineries (COR) was an Australian oil company that operated between 1920 and 1952 as a joint venture of the Australian government and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. Early history The partnership was established in 1920 on ...

Ltd., a government-owned oil retailer, established by the Hughes ministry in 1920 and sold to British Petroleum in 1952. He died in his home in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield, survived by his wife and one of his two daughters.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Findley, Edward Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Victoria (Australia) state politicians Members of the Australian Senate for Victoria Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Cabinet of Australia People expelled from public office 1864 births 1942 deaths 20th-century Australian politicians Australian newspaper founders Australian newspaper publishers (people) People from Bendigo 20th-century Australian businesspeople