John Keith McDougall (10 August 1867 – 11 April 1957), also known as J. K. McDougall, was an Australian politician, poet and

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 ...

activist.

Early life

McDougall was born at Learmonth, Victoria to farmer Donald McDougall and Margaret, née Keith. He attended

Rossbridge ''Rossbridge'' is a town in the north west region of Victoria, Australia. It is approximately west of the state's capital, Melbourne. Rossbridge has a population of 27, as of the 2021 Census. Established on the Ararat to coast road in the 18 ...

Common School but left school at the age of 13 to assist on the family farm. His education continued informally, however, and began to develop an interest in politics, having rejected the

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

ministry.

Politics

McDougall joined the Ararat branch of the Political Labor Council in 1903, becoming president in 1904. He stood twice for Ararat Shire Council, succeeding in 1904. In

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

he was 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. ...

for the seat of Wannon after a successful campaign targeting the anti-union leanings of the Anti-Socialist sitting member, Arthur Robinson. He rarely spoke in

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, but did considerable work for his constituency. McDougall also became associated with King O'Malley and his group of Labor members. McDougall was defeated in Wannon in

1913 Events January * January – Joseph Stalin travels to Vienna to research his ''Marxism and the National Question''. This means that, during this month, Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky and Tito are all living in the city. * January 3 &ndash ...

, largely due to a general swing against Labor and a redistribution, and returned to his farm, running unsuccessfully for Flinders in 1914 and

Grampians The Grampian Mountains () is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. The Grampian range extends northeast to so ...

in 1915 and 1917.

Later life

McDougall was a prolific contributor to Labor press, denouncing

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

as well as those Labor members of whom he disapproved, including

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and

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. Many of these contributions were submitted in verse; five books of McDougall's verse were published, including ''The trend of the ages'' and ''Grass and gossamer, and other verses'' (1930). McDougall's poem ''The White Man's Burden'', which denounced

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

, was used by the Nationalist Party in the 1919 election as evidence of Labor's contempt for servicemen. Six returned servicemen, stirred by this rhetoric, lured McDougall from his home and left him in an Ararat street having been

tarred and feathered Tarring and feathering is a form of public torture where a victim is stripped naked, or stripped to the waist, while wood tar (sometimes hot) is either poured or painted onto the person. The victim then either has feathers thrown on them or is ...

. The poem had been written in 1902. On 3 March 1908 at

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, McDougall had married Margaret Ellen McGennisken, who died in 1952. McDougall retired subsequently to write his memoirs, dying at Ararat on 11 April 1957, survived by two sons and a daughter.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McDougall, John 1867 births 1957 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Wannon Australian poets People from the Colony of Victoria Australian MPs 1906–1910 Australian MPs 1910–1913