James Newton Haxton Hume Cook CMG (23 September 1866 – 8 August 1942) was an Australian politician. He was a member of 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 1901 to 1910, after previously serving in the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the states and territories of Australia, state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the state upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament H ...

from 1894 to 1900. He was a member of the anti-socialist parties and served as a

minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...

under

Alfred Deakin Alfred Deakin (3 August 1856 – 7 October 1919) was an Australian politician who served as the second Prime Minister of Australia, prime minister of Australia from 1903 to 1904, 1905 to 1908, and 1909 to 1910. He held office as the leader of th ...

Early life

Hume Cook was born in

Kihikihi Kihikihi, a small town located in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand, serves as a satellite community of Te Awamutu, five kilometres to the north, and lies 35 kilometres south of Hamilton. The estimated population was ''Kihi ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. He was the eldest of the nine children of James Cook, a private in the Waikato Militia and later a failed farmer, originally from Walsall, England, and his wife Janet Mair, from Rutherglen, Scotland. Hume Cook’s schooling was limited by his family’s poverty; in his teens in Melbourne he worked with his father, a semi-skilled tradesman, then set out on his own selling real estate in 1887. He also soon became active in the

Australian Natives' Association The Australian Natives' Association (ANA) was a mutual society founded in Melbourne, Australia in April 1871. It was founded by and for the benefit of White native-born Australians, and membership was restricted to that group. The Association's ...

. In 1893, he was elected to Brunswick Town Council and in 1896 became mayor. In 1902, he married Nellie Maine.

Australian Natives' Association

James Hume Cook joined the Brunswick branch of the ANA in the late 1880s and rose rapidly through the ranks; at his first meeting he was appointed branch auditor, within fifteen months he was branch president. In 1894 he joined the board of directors and in 1896 was elected Chief President. As the ANA was for native born Australians, his birth place may have been unknown to the Brunswich Branch. In his reminiscences Hume Cook declared that he owed ‘almost everything’ to the ANA, and certainly the association gave him an education in both practical and ideological politics. Through its lectures and debates he learnt the radical version of liberalism: adult suffrage and one man one vote; an eight-hour day and a minimum wage; a tax on unimproved land values, an absentee tax, and a graduated income tax; local option; and the exclusion of Chinese and Asiatic labour. He became an accomplished if somewhat verbose lecturer, much in demand in both city and country branches; thus in ‘a crowded meeting’ in Castlemaine he ‘for an hour and a half riveted the attention of the audience’ He also gained fame as a singer of sentimental songs. His most important work for the ANA, as Chief President in 1896 and afterwards, was an advocate for Federation.

Parliamentary career

In 1893 Hume Cook won a seat on the Brunswick Town Council at his fourth attempt, becoming mayor in 1896. He was elected to the seat of East Bourke Boroughs in the

in 1894, winning East Bourke Boroughs with strong support from Trades Hall voters. In parliament he worked alongside Labor members without ever joining the party, supporting electoral, educational and land reform, and state intervention into wage-fixing and working conditions. He supported to

federation of Australia The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Wester ...

1897, but came only 19th in the vote for the Victorian delegates to the 1897 Australasian Federal Convention. He supported liberal causes, such as protection and state intervention into wage-fixing and working conditions, but lost his seat in 1900. Hume Cook won 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. ...

seat of Bourke at the first federal election in 1901 as a

Protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

and a supporter of Alfred Deakin,. He joined the fusion in 1909 in an attempt to hold on to his seat, although its creation ran against his political principles. ‘Between 1905 and 1908 he was party whip, cabinet secretary and honorary minister ... experiences he thought much less interesting than his rescue by the police from an armed lunatic who had invaded his parliamentary office’. From January 1908 to the defeat of the government in 1908, he was a minister without portfolios in the Deakin ministry. He chaired a

Royal Commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

postal services The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal sy ...

from June to December 1908. The Labor Party campaigned actively against him at the 1910 election and he was defeated by

Frank Anstey Francis George Anstey (18 August 186531 October 1940) was an Australian politician and writer. He served as a member of the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives from 1910 to 1934, representing the Australian Labor Party ...

. He ran unsuccessfully for Maribyrnong at the 1913 election.

Later life

Hume Cook was involved with

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923. He led the nation during World War I, and his influence on national politics s ...

in the establishment of the Nationalist Party in 1916 and the

Australian Party The Australian Party was a political party founded and led by former Australian prime minister Billy Hughes after his expulsion from the Nationalist Party. The party was formed in 1929, and at its peak had five members of federal parliament. ...

in 1929 and 1930. He was also secretary of the Australian Industries Protection League from 1922 until his death and represented Australian industry at the

British Empire Economic Conference The British Empire Economic Conference (also known as the Imperial Economic Conference or Ottawa Conference) was a 1932 conference of British colonies and dominions held to discuss the Great Depression. It was held between 21 July and 20 Augus ...

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

in 1932. He was also involved in orchard-growing, mining and insurance companies and charitable organisations. He published a book of Australian fairytales and wrote hundreds of political pamphlets, patriotic poetry, and several versions of reminiscences.In 1941, he was made a Companion of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

(CMG). He died in the Melbourne suburb of

Brighton, Victoria Brighton is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 11 km south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Bayside Local government areas of Victo ...

in 1942, survived by his wife, a daughter and two sons.

Books

James Hume Cook published the following books: * ''Australian Fairy Tales,'' (1925) * ''A Win to Wireless'' (1941) * ''Australian Natives' Association: Its genesis and history'' (1931) * ''Victoria: A pageant of the years 1834-1934'' (1934) * ''"The new tariff."'' (1936) * ''The Australian Industries Protection League: A historical review'' (1938) The following books were intended as gifts and clearly said they were not for sale: * ''Tales of the Dandenongs.'' by James Hume-Cook. - First series / 53 pages 1935. (Badger's Creek; Belgrave; Sassafras; Monbulk; Wandin; Belgrave.) * ''Tales of the Dandenongs''. by James Hume-Cook. - Second series / 31 pages 1938 (Gembrook; Olinda.) * ''Tales of the Dandenongs.'' by James Hume-Cook. - Third series / 52 pages 1939 (The Singer; Two Letters; Kalorama) * ''Tales of the Dandenongs.'' by James Hume-Cook. - Fourth series / 48 pages 1940 (Ferny Creek; Warburton; Upper Beaconsfield.)

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hume Cook, James Newton Haxton Protectionist Party members of the Parliament of Australia Commonwealth Liberal Party members of the Parliament of Australia Victoria (state) state politicians Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Bourke Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Cabinet of Australia 1866 births 1942 deaths Australian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George People from Kihikihi New Zealand emigrants to Australia Australian people of English descent Australian people of Scottish descent Mayors of places in Victoria (state) Victoria (state) local councillors 20th-century Australian writers Writers from Melbourne Politicians from Melbourne Australian MPs 1901–1903 Australian MPs 1903–1906 Australian MPs 1906–1910 19th-century mayors of places in Australia