Richard Buzacott (7 September 1867 – 10 January 1933) was an Australian politician. He was 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

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 1910 to 1923, having earlier served briefly in the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House, Perth, Parliament House in the Western Australian capi ...

in 1908. He began his career in 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) but defected to the Nationalist Party following the 1916 ALP split.

Early life

Buzacott was born at ''Emu Flat'', Clare,

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 ...

on 7 September 1867. The son of a farmer of the same name, he was educated at Stanley Flat Primary School, and Clare High School, then worked as an agricultural labourer. From 1891 to 1898 he was a

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face (mining), face; cutt ...

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 ...

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 from 1899 to 1900 he was in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Early years in Western Australia

In 1900 Buzacott migrated to the

n goldfields, mining on the Goongarrie fields near Menzies. He became active in the Labor movement, becoming president of the Menzies branch of the Amalgamated Workers' Union in 1901, and of the Amalgamated Miners' Association in 1903. From 1904 he was President of the Australian Labor Federation. In the elections of 28 June 1904 and 27 October 1905, he contested the

seat of Menzies as a

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 ...

candidate, but was defeated on both occasions by the incumbent Henry Gregory. From 1906 to 1907 he was secretary of the Menzies Miners' Institute. On 31 March 1908, Richard Buzacott married Mary Lucy Marshall. They had one son, Richard Norman Buzacott. On 11 September 1908, Buzacott defeated Gregory for the seat of Menzies in a general election. Gregory then disputed the result with the Court of Disputed Returns, retaining his seat while the matter was under its consideration. Ultimately, the election was declared void, and 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 ...

was held on 20 November, which Gregory won by 56 votes.

Senate

On 13 April 1910, Buzacott was elected to 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 ...

on a Labor ticket. He took his seat on 1 July, serving as a Labor member until the

conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...

crisis of 1917, when he was expelled from the party as a pro-conscriptionist, and joined the Nationalists. Over the next five years he served as a member of the Federal Parliamentary Recruiting Committee to Inquire into the Effect of Liquor on Australian Soldiers (1917–18); the Joint Committee of Public Accounts (1920–22); and the Royal Commission on War Service Homes (1922). He retained his seat until 30 June 1923, having lost it in the election of 14 December the previous year.

Personal life

Buzacott lived 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 ...

from around 1912. Very little is known of his life after politics. His wife died on 10 January 1976 aged 88, and he had pre-deceased her at Balwyn, Victoria, on 10 January 1933 aged 65. One of Richard Buzacott's brothers

Nicholas Nicholas is a male name, the Anglophone version of an ancient Greek name in use since antiquity, and cognate with the modern Greek , . It originally derived from a combination of two Ancient Greek, Greek words meaning 'victory' and 'people'. In ...

was a Member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...

from 1899 to 1933. Another brother, Roderick Buzacott was a major South Australian Farm Implement Manufacturer in the town of Blyth, located near Clare, where they were born and raised.Another brother, Alexander Herbert Stanley Buzacott also went to Western Australia (Kalgoorlie and then Perth)- some of his descendants have now returned to Adelaide, South Australia

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buzacott, Richard 1867 births 1933 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate for Western Australia People from Clare, South Australia Australian miners National Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia