John Henry Cann (19 April 186021 July 1940) was a New South Wales politician, Treasurer, and Minister of the Crown in the cabinets of

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 ...

and

William Holman William Arthur Holman (4 August 1871 – 5 June 1934) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1913 to 1920. He came to office as the leader of the Labor Party, but was expelled from the party in the split o ...

Background

Cann was born in 1860 in

Horrabridge Horrabridge is a village and civil parish in the West Devon district, in Devon, England with a population of 2,115 people in 2006, down from 2,204 in 1991. It is located approximately north of the city of Plymouth and south of Tavistock and i ...

, moving with his family to

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

in 1866. At the age of nine he began work in the coal mines. He moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1882 and migrated to Australia in 1887 following his marriage in 1885. After a brief period working as a coal miner at

Port Kembla A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inla ...

Cann moved to

Broken Hill Broken Hill is a city in the Far West (New South Wales), far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, it is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Hi ...

where he worked as a miner for

BHP BHP Group Limited, founded as the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, is an Australian multinational mining and metals corporation. BHP was established in August 1885 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. As of 2024, BHP was the world� ...

. He was also a

Primitive Methodist The Primitive Methodist Church is a Christian denomination within the holiness movement. Originating in early 19th-century England as a revivalist movement within Methodism, it was heavily influenced by American evangelist Lorenzo Dow (1777–18 ...

lay preacher at this time.

Political career

Cann was elected president of the local branch of the Amalgamated Miners' Association (AMA) in early 1890, defeating the more radical previous president, Richard Sleath. When the AMA formed a local branch of the Labor Electoral League in 1891 Cann was preselected as candidate for the state parliament seat of Sturt and elected in the same year. Cann was elected unopposed as the sitting member, Wyman Brown, decided to retire after local unions passed a motion of no confidence in him. Other labour candidates including Sleath (then serving as AMA secretary) and William Ferguson (supported by the Barrier Ranges Trades and Labour Council) withdrew from the contest once it was clear Cann had the majority support of local unions. Cann faced significant local problems once elected. The far west of New South Wales was in a severe drought, and Broken Hill had no secure source of fresh water. Cann was able to persuade the Premier,

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

, to commission emergency supplies of water brought in from

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

by train. An even more significant problem emerged with the defeat of the local union movement in the 1892 miners' strike. The 18-week strike saw local union leaders arrested and imprisoned in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and

strikebreakers A strikebreaker (sometimes pejoratively called a scab, blackleg, bootlicker, blackguard or knobstick) is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. Strikebreakers may be current employees ( union members or not), or new hires to keep the org ...

brought in to replace striking miners. Union membership collapsed following the defeat and many of the working conditions won in previous years were lost. While the defeat of the strike was a significant setback for the unions in Broken Hill, politically Labour was very successful in the 1890s. Cann was able to persuade the Dibbs government to divide the district of Sturt into three new seats,

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and a redrawn Sturt. Labour polled over 70 percent in all three new seats at the 1894 election, with Cann winning

. Cann served as Labor's central campaign director for the 1897 election to the Federation Convention. Labor opposed the 1897 federation proposal, instead advocating a unicameral legislature elected by universal suffrage. This opposition to federation was controversial locally, and although the "No" vote was successful, it caused significant internal conflict within the Labor party in the far west. When Labor won the 1910 election, Cann was elected

Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Speaker of the Legislative Assembly is a title commonly held by presiding officers of parliamentary bodies styled legislative assemblies. The office is most widely used in state and territorial legislatures in Australia, and in provincial and terr ...

. Cann resigned as speaker as part of the political crisis caused by the resignations of Bill Dunn and Henry Horne, causing Labor to lose its majority. Parliament was porouged and on its resumption, Liberal Reform member

Henry Willis Henry Willis (27 April 1821 – 11 February 1901), also known as "Father" Willis, was an English organ player and builder, who is regarded as the foremost organ builder of the Victorian era. His company Henry Willis & Sons remains in bus ...

was elected speaker and restoring Labor's majority. Cann continued to serve as MLA for Broken Hill until the seat was abolished in 1913, when he returned to the seat of Sturt. From 1912 to 1914 he was the Treasurer of New South Wales. In 1916 Cann was expelled from the Labor Party during the 1916 Labor split, and resigned to take the position of deputy chief commissioner of the

New South Wales Government Railways New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) was an agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in the colony, and then the state, of New South Wales, Australia, between 1855 and 1932. History The NSWGR built ...

. He was succeeded as the member for Sturt by the more radical

Percy Brookfield Percival Stanley Brookfield (7 August 1875 – 22 March 1921) was an Australian politician and militant trade unionist. He was variously known as Percival Jack Brookfield or Jack Brookfield, a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly f ...

. In 1914 his younger brother

George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

joined him in the legislative Assembly, winning the 1914 Canterbury state by-election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cann, John Henry 1860 births 1940 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Speakers of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Treasurers of New South Wales Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales British emigrants to colonial Australia Colony of New South Wales people