Richard Valentine Keane (14 February 1881 – 26 April 1946) was an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms ...

(ALP) and served as Minister for Trade and Customs from 1941 until his death in 1946. He was a member of both the

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

(1929–1931) and the

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

(1938–1946). Prior to entering politics he worked as a clerk with the

Victorian Railways The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, b ...

and served as national secretary of the Australian Railways Union (1925–1929).

Early life

Keane was born on 14 February 1881 in

Beechworth, Victoria Beechworth is a well-preserved historical town located in the north-east of Victoria, Australia, famous for its major growth during the gold rush days of the mid-1850s. At the , Beechworth had a population of 3,859. Beechworth's many histor ...

, the fourth child of Hanorah (née O'Sullivan) and Timothy Keane. His parents were Irish Catholic immigrants – his mother was born in

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named afte ...

and his father, a police constable, in

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the cou ...

. He possessed papers showing that his father had served with the

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

under the name "Timothy Kane", and had received a commendation for his role in the

Battle of Sailor's Creek The Battle of Sailor's Creek was fought on April 6, 1865, near Farmville, Virginia, as part of the Appomattox Campaign, near the end of the American Civil War. It was the last major engagement between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, c ...

. Keane was educated at

Christian Brothers College, St Kilda , motto_translation = Virtue Alone Is Noble , established = , type = Independent secondary school , religion = Roman Catholic , denomination = Christian Brothers , trust ...

, following his father's transfer to Melbourne. He later became the first president of the school's

Old Boys The terms Old Boys and Old Girls are the usual expressions in use in the United Kingdom for former pupils of primary and secondary schools.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While these are traditionally associated with independent schools, they are ...

association. In 1897, aged 16, Keane began working as a clerk with the

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, mak ...

. He soon became involved in the

labour movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

Union career

In 1918, Keane became an officeholder in the Victorian Railways Union. In 1925 he resigned from the public service to take up a paid position as state secretary and national secretary of the Australian Railways Union (ARU). At the time the ARU was the largest union in Victoria, with over 20,000 members. Keane supported

industrial unionism Industrial unionism is a trade union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of skill or trade, thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in ...

and unsuccessfully advocated for the ARU to merge with the

Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the 1880s and currently has approximately 80,000 members. It has exerci ...

(AWU). He was vice-president of the Commonwealth Council of Federated Unions and later served on the general arbitration committee of the

Australian Council of Trade Unions The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), originally the Australasian Council of Trade Unions, is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated unions and eight trades and ...

(ACTU).

Political career

Richard Valentine Keane reading at a desk

Keane was vice-president of the executive of the Victorian branch of the

in 1928 and its president in 1930 and from 1937 to 1938. In

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the It ...

, he stood unsuccessfully for the Australian Senate and the

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council (VLC) is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative C ...

. In the October 1929 election, he was elected as the member for

in the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Austra ...

, but lost it at the October 1931 election. He was narrowly defeated for Bendigo at the 1934 election, but was elected to the Senate at the

1937 election The following elections occurred in the year 1937. Asia * 1937 Philippine local elections * 1937 Iranian legislative election * 1937 Soviet Union legislative election India * 1937 Indian provincial elections * 1937 Madras Presidency legislative ...

. He became leader of the government in the Senate in 1943. In October 1941 Keane was appointed Minister for Trade and Customs and

Vice-President of the Executive Council The Vice-President of the Executive Council is the minister in the Government of Australia who acts as the presiding officer of meetings of the Federal Executive Council when the Governor-General is absent. The Vice-President of the Executive ...

in the first Curtin Ministry and was responsible for administering wartime rationing and price controls. In 1946 he travelled to the United States to terminate Australia's

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

arrangements. While leaving the

Waldorf Astoria The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schu ...

in New York in March 1946, Keane was "wildly cheered" by "hundreds of celebrity-conscious New Yorkers" who mistook him for Winston Churchill, who was also staying at the hotel. He subsequently quipped that "I somehow wish I had been smoking a cigar". Keane died at a hospital in Washington, D.C., on 26 April 1946, aged 65. He had collapsed earlier in the day at the

Australian embassy Australian diplomatic missions are posts representing the Commonwealth of Australia in foreign countries. They are mostly maintained by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with some smaller posts being run by Austrade. There are curr ...

due to heart trouble, which was attributed to over-work. He had taken over the administration of the embassy while awaiting the arrival of the new ambassador,

Norman Makin Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

Personal life

In 1909, Keane married Ruby Thorne, a milliner, with whom he had two daughters and a son. He was widowed in 1923 and remarried in 1940 to Millicent Dunn, a typist, with whom he had another daughter. Keane stood tall and reportedly weighed .

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keane, Richard Valentine 1881 births 1946 deaths Members of the Cabinet of Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Bendigo Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian Senate for Victoria Members of the Australian Senate 20th-century Australian politicians Australian trade unionists People from Beechworth People educated at St Mary's College, Melbourne Australian people of Irish descent