Edwin Wilkie "Ted" Corboy (24 August 1896 – 6 August 1950) was an Australian politician and public servant. He was a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

(ALP) and served in 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 ...

from 1918 to 1919, representing the Western Australian seat of

Swan Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...

. Corboy was elected to federal parliament at the age of 22, setting a record for the youngest member of parliament which stood until 2010. He was defeated after a single term, but subsequently served in the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House, Perth, Parliament House in the Western Australian capi ...

from 1921 to 1933.

Early life

Corboy was born on 24 August 1896 at the Hospital for Women, Melbourne. He was the son of Isobel Amelia () and Michael Corboy. His father worked variously as a

maltster Malting is the process of steeping, Germination, germinating, and drying grain to convert it into malt. Germination and sprouting involve a number of enzymes to produce the changes from seed to seedling and the malt producer stops this stage of t ...

, railway worker and ironworker. Corboy moved to Western Australia at a young age and attended Perth Boys' School until the age of 15. He joined the state public service in January 1912 as a junior accounts clerk with the Department of Water Supply. He enlisted for military service in June 1915, after having previously been rejected. He served at

Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...

and later in France, where he was wounded twice, first at Pozières and later at Flers, before being invalided to England because of injury to his eyes, the result of a gas attack. On his return to Western Australia in May 1917, he worked as a clerk in the records branch of the Western Australian Lands Department and was an active member of the Labour Party.

Political career

Federal politics

At the age of 21, Corboy unsuccessfully contested the 1917 Subiaco by-election for a seat in the

Legislative Assembly of Western Australia The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House in the Western Australian capital, Perth. The Legisla ...

. He was subsequently elected to the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...

in the 1918 by-election for the

Division of Swan The Division of Swan is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division located in Western Australia. Swan is a Swing seat, marginal electorate that has swung between both major List of political parties ...

. He won the by-election in somewhat unusual circumstances, winning the safe

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

seat for the Labor Party. The conservative vote was split because two conservative parties, the Nationalists and the Country Party, both contested the election. Corboy received the highest number of primary votes and won the "first past the post" contest. This unexpected outcome led to the introduction of

preferential voting Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems: * Any electoral system that allows a voter to indicate multiple preferences where preferences marked are weighted or used as cont ...

in Australia. Corboy, who was 22 when he was elected, became the youngest person ever elected to the House of Representatives and held that record until Wyatt Roy, aged 20, won the Division of Longman in the 2010 federal election. Corboy made his maiden House of Representatives speech in November 1918, during a parliamentary debate on the Defence Bill. '' The Argus'' reported that Corboy "disagreed with the idea of allowing courts-martial to try soldiers for murder and to punish them with death." The newspaper further reported that Corboy spoke clearly and with confidence, creating a good impression. In 1919, Corboy was censured by the central executive of the Victorian branch of the Labour party for supporting the deportation of all aliens interned during World War I from Australia. The executive, in condemning Corboy, claimed his stance was "inconsistent with principles of liberty and justice". Corboy, who was active in representing the interests of repatriated and demobilised veterans, had expressed concern that jobs in Western Australia's timber industry were being filled with

Austrians Austrians (, ) are the citizens and Nationality, nationals of Austria. The English term ''Austrians'' was applied to the population of Archduchy of Austria, Habsburg Austria from the 17th or 18th century. Subsequently, during the 19th century, ...

released from internment and returning to their old jobs, while returned soldiers were not able to obtain work. Corboy was a state delegate to the federal executive of the Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League (RSSIL), a predecessor of the Returned Services League, and in 1919 attended the RSSIL's fourth annual conference in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. In June 1919, Corboy made a speech to dock workers, following a period of industrial unrest, including riots, at the

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

wharf. He called for a federal election and stated that he would "a thousand times rather have been wounded in a wharf riot in Fremantle than fighting for the capitalistic rulers of the world in France". The comments were strongly criticised by the Kalgoorlie branch of the Returned Soldiers' Association, who called for his replacement as a Western Australian delegate to the federal executive of the RSSIL. In the

1919 Australian federal election The 1919 Australian federal election was held on 13 December 1919 to elect members to the Parliament of Australia. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist ...

, Corboy again stood for the seat of Swan, where he won the primary vote but was defeated on preferences by the Country Party's John Prowse.

Western Australian state politics

After his defeat in 1919, Corboy remained involved in Labour politics and in 1921 was elected to the

as the member for Yilgarn. In 1921, Corboy supported

Edith Cowan Edith Dircksey Cowan (' Brown; 2 August 1861 – 9 June 1932) was an Australian social reformer who worked for the rights and welfare of women and children. She is best known as the first Australian woman to serve as a member of parliament. C ...

in voicing disagreement with a policy allowing only male guests to the Speaker's gallery. Corboy was a member of the parliamentary select committee appointed to inquire into the cashing out of soldiers' war gratuity bonds. In 1927 Corboy expressed his support for the abolition of capital punishment in Western Australia, stating that the death penalty was not a deterrent to serious crime. Capital punishment was only formally abolished in Western Australia in 1984. In 1930, Corboy became the member for Yilgarn-Coolgardie, a new seat incorporating his former seat. A challenge to the validity of his election was mounted by a fellow Labor candidate, George Lambert, but was dismissed. However, Lambert defeated Corboy for Labor preselection prior to 1933 state election.

After politics

In 1939 Corboy was again called to military service, serving until 1945, when he returned to Australia and worked as a public servant in Perth. He died on August 6, 1950. After his death, he was described by the '' Daily News'' as "one of the most colourful people in Australian politics".

Personal life

Corboy married Hannah Tobin in 1919, with whom he had one son. He was widowed in 1942 and remarried in 1949 to Dora Daly (). The previous year he had been named as a

co-respondent In English law, a co-respondent is, in general, a respondent to a petition, or other legal proceeding, along with another or others, or a person called upon to answer in some other way. 7.4.19 Divorce More particularly, since the Matrimonial Cau ...

in a divorce petition brought by Dora's husband Edward Daly; a ''

decree nisi A decree nisi or rule nisi () is a court order that will come into force at a future date unless a particular condition is met. Unless the condition is met, the ruling becomes a decree absolute (rule absolute), and is binding. Typically, the con ...

'' was granted by the court on the grounds of adultery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corboy, Edwin Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Swan Members of the Australian House of Representatives 1896 births 1950 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Australian MPs 1917–1919