Joseph Bertram Sleeman (21 June 1885 – 6 July 1970) was an Australian politician who was a Labor Party 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 1924 to 1959, representing the seat of Fremantle. He served as

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 ...

from 1939 to 1947. Sleeman was born in the small country town of

Inglewood, Victoria Inglewood is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Calder Highway in the Shire of Loddon. History Inglewood, is known as the home of the ' Blue Mallee' Eucalyptus and is the home of Australia's largest Eucalyptus Oil Distillery, Bosis ...

. He and his parents moved to Western Australia in 1895, and he attended school in

Day Dawn Day Dawn is a ghost town in the Mid West (Western Australia), Mid West/upper Murchison River (Western Australia), Murchison region of Western Australia. It was a significant mining town and mine in the late nineteenth century. Located a short ...

, a mining town in the state's

Mid West The Mid West region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is a sparsely populated region extending from the west coast of Western Australia, about north and south of its administrative centre of Geraldton and inland to east of W ...

. After working for a period as a storeman in Leonora, Sleeman moved to

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

(the port city of

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

), where he began working as an organiser for the Shop Assistants Union.Joseph Bertram Sleeman
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 13 May 2016. At the 1924 state election, he stood for the seat of Fremantle, and defeated the sitting

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

member, Frank Gibson. Following the 1939 election, Sleeman was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, going on to serve until the Labor government's defeat at the 1947 election. Only two other speakers have served for longer periods – Sir James Lee-Steere and

John Hearman John Merrifield Hearman CMG (10 November 1910 – 20 February 1994) was an Australian politician who was a Liberal Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1950 to 1968, representing the seat of Blackwood. He served ...

. Sleeman continued in parliament until his retirement at the 1959 election, having spent nearly 35 years as the member for Fremantle. He died in July 1970, aged 85. In 1992 ''Joe Sleeman Court'', a housing complex on South Terrace, was named in Sleeman's honour and dedicated by the then MLA for Fremantle,

Jim McGinty James Andrew McGinty (born 22 September 1949) is an Australian former politician. He was a Labor member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1990 to 2009, representing the district of Fremantle. He was Labor Party leader and Lea ...

. A small road in the

O'Connor O'Connor or O'Conor may refer to: People * O'Connor or O'Conor, an Irish clan * O'Connor Sligo, a royal dynasty ruling the northern part of the Kingdom of Connacht * O'Connor (surname), including a list of people with the surname Places * Burdett ...

industrial area, Sleeman Close, is also named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sleeman, Joseph 1885 births 1970 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Trade unionists from Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Speakers of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly People from Inglewood, Victoria 20th-century Australian politicians People from Day Dawn