Maurice William Parish (29 December 1890 – 17 January 1980) was an Australian politician who represented the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly (also known as the lower house) is one of two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assem ...

multi-member An electoral or voting system is a set of rules used to determine the results of an election. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections may take place in business, nonprofit organizations and inf ...

seat of

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American bicycle manufacturer * Murray Motor Car Company, an American car manufacturer * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trus ...

from 1915 to 1918. He was elected at as a United Labor Party member, left the party to join the

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

in the 1917 Labor split, and became an independent in 1918. Parish was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, with his family moving to

Murray Bridge Murray Bridge may refer to. *Murray Bridge, South Australia Murray Bridge (formerly Mobilong and Edwards Crossing; ) is a city in the Australian state of South Australia, located east-southeast of the state's capital city, Adelaide, and north ...

at the age of four. He was a building contractor before entering politics, and was elected as a District Council of Mobilong councillor in 1914. He was subsequently chairman of the Mobilong council from 1915 until 1924, and then the first mayor of the

Corporate Town of Murray Bridge The Corporate Town of Murray Bridge was a local government area in South Australia from 1924 to 1977. It was established in February 1924, when the town of Murray Bridge was severed from the District Council of Mobilong, of which it had been the ...

from 1924 until 1927, later returning as mayor in the 1930s. He was elected to the House of Assembly at the 1915 state election for the United Labor Party in the seat of

. Parish was the youngest person to win a seat in the House at the time of his election, having been only 24. He left the Labor Party in the 1917 Labor split, casting the deciding vote of the Murray Bridge branch to leave the party in late March, some weeks after the other departing MPs had left, and joined the new

. The National Party contested the 1918 election in coalition with the conservative Liberal Union, and Parish was unsuccessful in gaining preselection for the coalition ticket. He immediately resigned from the National Party and contested the election as an independent, but was unsuccessful. In 1934, Parish established ''

The Murray Valley Standard ''The Murray Valley Standard'' is a bi-weekly newspaper published in Murray Bridge, South Australia, founded in late 1934 and published continuously since then. Its main office is on Adelaide Road, Murray Bridge. It was later sold to Rural Press ...

'' newspaper at Murray Bridge after purchasing a local printing business. He wrote his own regular column in the paper from 1947. He sold the publication to his editor in 1950, but continued to contribute to the newspaper as a travel writer thereafter. Having been readmitted to the Labor Party in 1929, he later unsuccessfully contested the 1947 state election for the conservative

Liberal and Country League The South Australian Liberal Party, officially known as the Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division), and often shortened to SA Liberals, is the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia. It was formed as the Lib ...

References

1890 births 1980 deaths Members of the South Australian House of Assembly 20th-century Australian politicians Mayors of places in South Australia {{Australia-politician-stub