John Edward Hardwick (3 June 1867 – 5 August 1943) was an Australian businessman and politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

from 1904 to 1911 and again from 1914 to 1921. He represented the seat of East Perth on both occasions.

Early life

Hardwick was born in Perth to Margaret (née McGuiness) and John Hardwick.John Edward Hardwick
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 28 December 2016. As a youth, he was a talented player of

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

, spending seven seasons in the West Australian Football Association. This included 16 games for West Australians (1887–1888), 15 games for Metropolitans (1889–1890), and 37 games for West Perth (1891–1893). Hardwick left Perth to work in

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

as a bootmaker and saddler, and then in 1894 went to the

Eastern Goldfields The Eastern Goldfields is part of the Western Australian Goldfields in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, covering the present and former gold-mining area east of Perth. Extent and name origin The region encompasses the to ...

, running a business in Coolgardie with his brother. He served as a Municipality of Coolgardie councillor from 1900 to 1901. He then returned to Perth, and was a member of the

Perth City Council The City of Perth is a local government area and body, within the Perth metropolitan area, which is the capital of Western Australia. The local government is commonly known as Perth City Council. The City covers the Perth city centre and sur ...

from 1901 to 1904.

Politics

Hardwick entered parliament at the 1904 East Perth by-election, caused by the resignation of the

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Walter James Walter James may also refer to: * Walter James (actor) (1882–1946), American film actor * Walter James (Australian politician) (1863–1943), Australian politician and the fifth Premier of Western Australia * Walter James, 1st Baron Northbourne ...

. He was re-elected at the

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony i ...

and 1908 state elections, and had intended to stand again in 1911, but made a mistake in submitting his nomination and was thus unable to be listed on the ballot."THE EAST PERTH NOMINATIONS"
''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...

'', 25 September 1911. His seat was won by

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Titus Lander Titus Lander (5 April 1861 – 8 January 1948) was an Australian politician and animal welfare advocate. He was the first salaried RSPCA Australia, RSPCA inspector in Western Australia, and later served a single term in the state's Western Austr ...

. Hardwick reclaimed East Perth at the 1914 election, standing for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. He was re-elected at the 1917 election for the newly formed Nationalist Party, but at the 1921 election lost his seat to Labor's

Jack Simons John "Jack" Joseph Simons (also widely known and referred to as J. J. Simons and J. J. "Boss" Simons (12 August 1882 – 24 October 1948) was an Australian businessman and politician, best known for establishing the Young Australia League. Ea ...

. He failed to even make the final

two-candidate-preferred In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP), is the result of an opinion poll or a projection of an election result where preferences are distributed to one of the two major parties, the Labor Party and the Liberal/Nati ...

count. Hardwick made one final run for parliament at the 1922 Legislative Council elections, but lost to James Macfarlane.

Later life

After leaving politics, Hardwick managed hotels at Dwellingup and Bolgart for periods. He died in

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

in 1943, aged 76. He had married Esther Davis in 1895, with whom he had seven children, and was widowed in 1934.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardwick, John 1867 births 1943 deaths Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia Politicians from Perth, Western Australia Western Australian local councillors West Perth Football Club players Businesspeople from Western Australia