Joseph Vardon (27 July 1843 – 20 July 1913) was an Australian politician. He served as a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

for

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 ...

in 1907 and from 1908 to 1913. He was also a member of the

South Australian Legislative Council The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the South Australian House of Assembly, H ...

from 1900 to 1906.

Early life

Born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, he received a primary education before becoming a farm worker and apprentice printer, running his own printing business by 1871. He sat on Hindmarsh,

Unley Unley is an inner-southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, within the City of Unley. The suburb is the home of the Sturt Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Unley neighbours Adelaide Park Lands, Fullar ...

, and

Adelaide City Adelaide City Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club based in Oakden, a north-eastern suburb of Adelaide. The club was a founding member of the now-defunct National Soccer League (NSL) and currently competes in the National Premier ...

councils, and was President of the South Australian Liberal Union.

Politics

He was elected to the

Legislative Council of South Australia The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the South Australian House of Assembly, H ...

for the Central District in May 1900, serving until October 1906. Vardon resigned to contest the federal election in December 1906 as an

Anti-Socialist Criticism of socialism is any critique of socialist economics and socialist models of organization and their feasibility, as well as the political and social implications of adopting such a system. Some critiques are not necessarily directed ...

candidate for the three South Australian seats in the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...

. At the first count he was in fourth place, 16 votes behind Dugald Crosby. A second count however put Vardon into third, 34 votes ahead of Crosby. Justice Barton, sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns, found that 185 votes had been invalidated because of errors by the returning officers which affected the outcome of the election and declared the election void on 31 May 1907. The South Australian

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 ...

Government attempted to install James O'Loghlin in the vacancy. Vardon's initial attempts to obtain a fresh election were unsuccessful. Vardon subsequently succeeded with the High Court declaring O'Loghlin's appointment was void and ordering a supplementary election. Vardon and O'Loghlin both contested the election, with Vardon winning comfortably with 54% of the vote. He was defeated in the 1913 Election, by now a member of the

Commonwealth Liberal Party The Liberal Party was a parliamentary party in Australian federal politics between 1909 and 1917. The party was founded under Alfred Deakin's leadership as a merger of the Protectionist Party and Anti-Socialist Party, an event known as the Fu ...

Personal life

His son,

Edward Vardon Edward Charles Vardon (10 November 1866 – 23 February 1937) was an Australian businessman and politician. He served briefly as a Australian Senate, Senator for South Australia (1921–1922) and was a member of the South Australian House of Ass ...

, was an MP for Sturt 1918–1921, 1924–1930 and South Australian

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 ...

Senator 1921–1923. His daughter, Hilda Marian Vardon (1886–1959) married Horace Abercrombie Fairweather (1881–1969), brother of

Andrew Fairweather Andrew Fairweather (31 May 1882 – 4 May 1962) was a mine manager in Broken Hill, New South Wales. History Fairweather was born in Adelaide, son of marine engineer Andrew Abercrombie Fairweather (1855–1940) and his wife Cecilia Russell Fairweat ...

, on 12 April 1911.

References

1843 births 1913 deaths Australian printers Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Free Trade Party members of the Parliament of Australia Commonwealth Liberal Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for South Australia {{Australia-FreeTrade-politician-stub