Joseph Francis Cullen (1 February 1849 – 31 March 1917) was an Australian journalist and politician, serving as a Member of Parliament in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and

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 ...

. Born in

Jamberoo Jamberoo is a village on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia in the Municipality of Kiama. It is approximately 11.3 km inland from Kiama. At the , Jamberoo had a population of 1,910. The town's name is derived from an Aboriginal w ...

, New South Wales around 1849, Joseph Cullen was the son of farmer John Cullen and Rebecca Clinton. His brother

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

was also a member of the New South Wales parliament and became

Chief Justice of New South Wales The Chief Justice of New South Wales is the senior judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the highest-ranking judicial officer in the Australian state of New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States a ...

. Joseph Cullen was educated at state schools before attending Camden College 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 ...

. On 18 April 1878 he married Annie Butler, with whom he had one son and two daughters. Cullen became

congregational Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...

minister for

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...

North Sydney North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council. History The Indigenous people on the s ...

, North Willoughby and

Watsons Bay Watsons Bay is a harbourside, Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Watsons Bay is located 11 km north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, ...

. He resigned in 1886, and shortly afterwards purchased and edited a North Sydney newspaper. He was elected to 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 ...

on a

Free Trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...

ticket for St Leonards at the 1889 election. He held the seat until the election of 1894, when multi-member districts were abolished. St Leonards was split into three with the new districts being

Warringah Warringah ( ) is a name taken from the local Aboriginal word for Middle Harbour, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It may refer to: * Division of Warringah, an electoral division of the Australian House of Representatives created in 1922 * E ...

and Willoughby. Cullen was the Free Trade candidate for Willoughby, winning the election in July 1894. He was forced to resign 4 months later due to insolvency, being made bankrupt on 21 November 1894. He re-contested Willoughby at the resulting by-election however there were 3 free trade candidates and he was defeated by Edward Clark. In 1904, Cullen emigrated to Western Australia, spending two years on 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 ...

. Settling at Katanning, he was owner and editor of the ''

Great Southern Herald The ''Great Southern Herald'' is a weekly newspaper published in Katanning, Western Australia. It is distributed to communities in Katanning, Kojonup, Cranbrook, Gnowangerup and Lake Grace. History The newspaper was first published on Satu ...

'' from 1906. On 4 October 1909, he was elected to the

Western Australian Legislative Council The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Legislative A ...

in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

for the

South-East Province The South-East Province was an electoral region of the Western Australian Legislative Council, introduced after the introduction of responsible government in the 1890s. It initially comprised Williams, Plantagenet The House of Plantagenet ( ...

. He held the seat until his death at Katanning on 31 March 1917.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cullen, Joseph Francis 1849 births 1917 deaths Free Trade Party politicians Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly People from Katanning, Western Australia