Michael Patrick Considine (c. 26 January 1885 – 2 November 1959) was an Irish-born

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n politician and unionist. He represented the seat of Barrier in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's ...

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

. A controversial figure, Considine was pressured to resign from the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

(ALP). He won in

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (later Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off th ...

as an independent before joining the

Socialist Labor Party The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 192 ...

in 1920, but his seat was abolished for the 1922 election and he was defeated in an attempt to transfer to the seat of Darling.

Early life

Considine was born in

County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...

, Ireland, the son of Michael Patrick Considine and Margaret Josephine, née Lowney. He and his mother came to

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 ...

in 1890, living first at Kempsey and then at

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 ...

. He was prominent in the 1908 tramway worker strike, and was a member of the Socialist Federation of Australia, resigning in 1909 after the

Broken Hill Broken Hill is a city in the Far West (New South Wales), far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, it is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Hi ...

strike of 1909. In 1910, he was sentenced to six months in

gaol A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cri ...

after demonstrating against

Charles Wade Sir Charles Gregory Wade KCMG, KC, JP (26 January 1863 – 26 September 1922) was Premier of New South Wales – 21 October 1910. According to Percival Serle, "Wade was a public-spirited man of high character. His ability, honesty and cour ...

's government and the gaoling of

Peter Bowling Peter Bowling (19 December 1864 – 22 February 1942) was an Australian coal miner and trade unionist. Bowling was born in Stirling, Scotland to miner Patrick Bowling and Marguerite MacGuire. They lived in mining housing in Dunfirmline, Fife ...

. After his release, Considine moved to Broken Hill in 1911. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Considine was president of the militant Amalgamated Miners' Association and was a member of the Marxist Australian Socialist Party, but he resigned from the latter due to his support for unions. At

Eaglehawk, Victoria Eaglehawk is a suburb within the City of Greater Bendigo and a former gold mining, gold-mining town in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Eaglehawk is situated to the north-west of Bendigo on the Loddon Valley Highway. The highway is kno ...

on 23 January 1918 he married Bessie Washington.

Politics

In 1917, Considine was elected to the

seat of Barrier for the Labor Party. He immediately established himself as a spokesman of the far left wing of the party, even acting as consul for the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

government of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. He was again gaoled for three weeks in 1919 after publicly declaring, "Bugger the King, he is a bloody German bastard." He also attracted suspension from the House for asserting that the government was supporting the

Kolchak Kolchak, Kolçak or Kolčák is a surname from Turkish ''wikt:kolçak, kolçak''. Notable people with the surname include: * Alexander Kolchak (1874–1920), Russian naval commander, head of anti-Bolshevik White forces *Erkan Kolçak Köstendil, Tu ...

forces in Russia. Following the 1919 split in the New South Wales Labor Party, Considine was placed under considerable pressure and resigned from the party in 1920. He contested the 1922 election as an

Industrial Labor Party The Industrial Labor Party or Heffron Labor Party was a short-lived but influential political party active in New South Wales between 1936 and 1939. It was a splinter group of the Labor Party (ALP) and was formed by Bob Heffron after he and C ...

candidate in the seat of Darling and received 22.2 percent of the vote, but was unsuccessful. In 1926 he rejoined the Labor Party, but was unsuccessful in an attempt for endorsement for Darling.

Later life

Considine moved to

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 ...

in 1927 and held various occupations. He remained prominent in the union movement and continued to rebel at the 1930s–40s Labor conferences. He died suddenly on 2 November 1959 and was survived by his wife, a son, and two daughters.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Considine, Michael 1885 births 1959 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Australian Marxists Australian communists Australian trade unionists Australian socialists Independent members of the Parliament of Australia Irish emigrants to colonial Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Barrier Industrial Socialist Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Australian MPs 1917–1919 Australian MPs 1919–1922