Thomas John Shannon (9 December 1884 – 9 June 1954) was an Australian real estate agent, alderman and state 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 1927 until his death. He was variously a member of the Labor Party(ALP) and the Australian Labor Party (NSW).

Early life and career

Shannon was born in

Redfern, New South Wales Redfern is an Southern Sydney, inner southern suburb of Sydney located south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Local government in Australia, local government area of the City of Sydney. Strawberry Hills is a locality ...

and was the son of a cab driver. He was educated to elementary level at St Benedict's, Broadway and worked as a grocer's boy and eventually as a real estate agent. He became involved with community organisations including the Hibernian Australian Catholic Benefit Society, a provider of social security insurance, and was elected as an Alderman on

Sydney City Council The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the Greater Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, the City of Sydney is ...

between 1921 and 1927 and between 1930 and 1948.

State parliament

Shannon was elected to the New South Wales Parliament as the Labor member for the newly re-created seat of

Surry Hills Surry Hills is an Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), inner-east suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local gover ...

at the

1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the BBC, British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, John Reith becomes the first ...

election. The seat was abolished by a redistribution prior to the next

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

and Shannon transferred to the seat of Phillip where the sitting Labor member Michael Burke had retired. In 1930 he won election as Treasurer of the State Branch of the party. He retained the seat for Labor at the next 8 elections and died as the sitting member in 1954. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (NSW) during that party's estrangement from the ALP federal executive but he did not support later manifestations of

Lang Labor Lang Labor was a faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) consisting of the supporters of Jack Lang, who served two terms as Premier of New South Wales and was the party's state leader from 1923 to 1939. It controlled the New South Wale ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shannon, Tom 1884 births 1954 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians Australian real estate agents Sydney City Councillors Australian Labor Party councillors