Ellison Wentworth Quirk (8 July 186616 November 1938) was a New South Wales politician, Alderman and 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 House ...

, representing the electorate of Warringah from 1901 to 1904.

Early life

Quirk was born in 1866 in the town of Lucknow, near

Orange, New South Wales Orange is a city in the Central Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of the state capital, Sydney on a great circle at an altitude of . Orange had an estimated urban population of 40,493 Estimated resident population, 3 ...

on the Wentworth goldfields, the son of Robert Quirk. Quirk grew up in the nearby town of

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

until the age of 15, when his family settled in Manly in 1881. He eventually established himself within the Manly community as a Storekeeper and Land Agent. He married Margaret Ann Mills on 19 November 1896 and they had two daughters and two sons. Quirk involved himself in local politics at the time and identified himself with the

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

, not uncommon for members of the Sydney business community at the time. When

Henry Parkes Sir Henry Parkes, (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was a colonial Australian politician and longest non-consecutive Premier of the Colony of New South Wales, the present-day state of New South Wales in the Commonwealth of Australia. He has ...

won the NSW Legislative Assembly seat of St Leonards in 1885, Quirk worked in his office.

Political career

Holding prominent positions as secretary of the Manly Fire Brigade and president of Manly District Ambulance Brigade, Quirk eventually stood for office as became an

Alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...

on Manly Municipal Council in 1896 and rose to become Mayor from 1901 to 1906. He would remain a Manly Alderman until his retirement in 1928. Quirk then stood for state office in 1901 when the local member for Warringah,

Dugald Thomson Dugald Thomson (28 December 1849 – 27 November 1922) was an Australian politician. He campaigned for Federation as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (1894–1901), and was subsequently elected to the new federal House of Re ...

, resigned so that he could stand for the seat of North Sydney in the new Federal Parliament. Elected as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

, Quirk was aligned with the government of the day led by Sir John See and

Thomas Waddell Thomas Waddell (1 January 1854 – 25 October 1940), an Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1887 to 1917, was briefly the premier of New South Wales during 1904, and was a member of the New Sou ...

. He served on a parliamentary committee that resulted in an act that allowed the extension of a railway to the Portland Cement Works. He held his seat in parliament until it was abolished as a part of the reduction in size of the Legislative Assembly following

federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...

, and contested the new seat of

Middle Harbour Middle Harbour (or ''Warrin ga''), a semi–mature tide dominated drowned valley estuary, is the northern arm of Port Jackson, an inlet of the Tasman Sea located north of Sydney central business district on the coast of New South Wales, Aust ...

(which absorbed the majority of Warringah) at the 1904 election. Quirk stood as an Independent Progressive but nevertheless lost the election to Dr. Richard Arthur 58-40%. Quirk then stood for election to the first council of the newly proclaimed

Warringah Shire Council Warringah Council was a local government area in the northern beaches region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed on 7 March 1906 as the Warringah Shire Council, and became "Warringah Council" in 1993. In 19 ...

on 3 December 1906. Subsequently elected as an Alderman, he rose to be Shire President on three consecutive occasions in 1910, 1913–1914 and 1918–1919. He served on the Council until 1922. Joining the Labor Party, Quirk attempted to re-enter state politics as the ALP candidate for Middle Harbour in the 1913 state election, but was again unsuccessful against Dr Arthur. ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' in particular noted with interest his change of party allegiance since leaving parliament: "Mr. Quirk's debut as a pledged aborcaucus candidate is, of course, something new for the electors to meditate upon. Whilst he was always considered a supporter of the Labour party, this is the first occasion on which he has accepted the conditions attached to the signing of the Labour caucus pledge." In 1918, Quirk was one of seven Manly aldermen who were charged and found guilty for accepting free ferry passes from the Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company. The magistrate convicted the seven aldermen of contravening the Local Government Act and disqualified them to act as aldermen. As the council only had a total of nine aldermen, there was a period when the council did not have quorum and therefore did not function. These convictions were overturned on appeal. Eventually retiring from public life in 1928, Quirk died in November 1938 and was buried in Manly cemetery. Quirk Road in

Manly Vale Manly Vale is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 17 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Northern Beaches Council, in the Northern Beaches r ...

in the former Manly Council area and Quirk Street in

Dee Why Dee Why is a coastal suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 18 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district. It is the administrative centre of the local government area of Northern Beach ...

in the former Warringah Council area are named after him.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quirk, Ellison Australian businesspeople Free Trade Party politicians Independent members of the Parliament of New South Wales Shire Presidents and Mayors of Warringah Mayors of Manly, New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1866 births 1938 deaths Australian Labor Party politicians People from Manly, New South Wales