Selby Walter Munsie (23 September 1870 – 12 March 1938) was an Australian politician who was a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly of

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 1911 until his death, representing the seat of Hannans. He served as a minister in the governments of

Philip Collier Philip Collier (21 April 1873 – 18 October 1948) was an Australian politician who served as the 14th Premier of Western Australia from 1924 to 1930 and from 1933 to 1936. He was leader of the Labor Party from 1917 to 1936, and is Western Aus ...

and

John Willcock John Collings Willcock (9 August 1879 – 7 June 1956) was an Australian politician. He was the premier of Western Australia from 1936 to 1945, holding office as state leader of the Western Australian Labor Party, Australian Labor Party (ALP). ...

. Munsie was born near

Armidale Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 23,967 as of the 2021 census. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands reg ...

, New South Wales, to Anna Maria (née Richardson) and Alexander Welch Munsie. He was educated 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 ...

, and later worked for a period in the timber trade at nearby

Wallsend Wallsend () is a town in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of ...

. Munsie came to Western Australia in 1895 to work on the goldfields, living first at

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

and later in

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

. He eventually became president of the Federated Miners' Union (a forerunner of the national

CFMEU The Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) is Australia's largest Trade union, union in the construction, forestry, wikt:maritime, maritime, Textile manufacturing, textile, Clothing industry, clothing and Shoemaking, footw ...

).Selby Walter Munsie
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 23 May 2016. At the 1911 state election, Munsie was elected to parliament, replacing the retiring Francis Ware as the member for the seat of Hannans. After Labor's victory at the 1924 election, he was appointed a

minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...

in the new ministry formed by Philip Collier. He was given a substantive position after the 1927 election, replacing Frank Troy as Minister for Mines and John Drew as

Minister for Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

. Labor were defeated at the 1930 election, but were only out of office for a short period, returning in a landslide at the 1933 election. Munsie regained his old portfolios, and retained them when John Willcock replaced Philip Collier as premier in 1936. He died in Perth in March 1938, after an illness of about two months, and was granted a

state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...

."A LIFE OF FAITHFUL SERVICE"
– ''Westralian Worker'', 18 March 1938.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Munsie, Selby 1870 births 1938 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Australian miners Australian trade unionists Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly People from Armidale Ministers for health (Western Australia)