Samuel Barry Jones (8 July 1923 – 26 January 1999) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

from 1965 until 1984 and also a member of the ALP.

Early life

Samuel Barry Jones was born in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

. He was the son of a steelworker and a brother of Charlie Jones. He was educated to intermediate level at Newcastle Boys' High School and trained as a fitter and turner. He was an office-holder in the

Amalgamated Engineering Union The Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) was a major United Kingdom, British trade union. It merged with the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union to form the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union in 1992. History ...

Political career

Sam Jones joined the Labor Party in 1945 and served as vice president and secretary of the Tighes Hill branch, vice president of Newcastle and Waratah State Electorate Councils and secretary of Newcastle Federal Electorate Council. Jones was elected to

Newcastle City Council Newcastle City Council is the local authority for the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in the ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear in North East England. Newcastle has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. ...

in 1959 and served as an Alderman until 1965. He was a member of the Shortland County Council (1961) and the Hunter District Water Board. Jones defeated

Frank Purdue Frank Outen Jensen Purdue, (2 September 1899 – 24 December 1985) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1956 until 1962 and again between 1964 and 1965. He was prominent in local Governm ...

the incumbent member for the seat of

Waratah Australia’s famous waratah (genus ''Telopea'') is an Australian-endemic genus of five species of large shrubs or small trees, native to the southeastern parts of Australia (New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, and Tasmania). The be ...

at the

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

state election by 87 votes (0.79%). He retained the seat at the next 6 elections. During debate in the Legislative Assembly in August 1979, the member for South Coast, Mr John Hatton accused Jones of being involved in the cover-up of a

horse doping Equine drug testing is a form of drug testing applied to performance horses in regulated competition. Most common in racehorses, drug tests are also performed on horses in endurance riding and in international competition such as the Olympics and ...

scandal. Jones vigorously denied the allegations and sued ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' for defamation over its reporting of the allegations. His action failed in the

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian States and territories of Australia, State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil law (common law), civil matters, and hears ...

and Jones was left with a significant debt. Jones lost ALP pre-selection for the seat prior to the general election of

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

. He ran as an independent candidate against John Price, the endorsed Labor candidate. He finished third in the election with 24% of the vote and was subsequently expelled from the ALP. He was declared bankrupt in 1985. Of his brother, Charlie Jones said:"He most certainly did have a very colourful career, but I think he would like to be remembered as the Labor man he was ... Sam was an aggressive man who fought hard for the underdog."

Personal life

Sam Jones died in the Mater Hospital, Waratah to which he had been admitted after a stroke; he had earlier been treated for a brain tumour. A memorial ceremony was held at St Mark's Anglican Church, Islington. On 30 September 1960, Jones married Patricia Jones. They had a three children. Jones was survived by Patricia and their daughter, Sandra Lea, and one of their sons, John William Jones.Government of New South Wales. Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages. ''Index of Registers of Marriages.'' (database online). 29423/1960 Islington. JONES, Samuel Barry; JONES, Patricia

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Samuel 1923 births 1999 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly People educated at Newcastle Boys' High School Politicians from Newcastle, New South Wales Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians