Anthony Sylvester Luchetti, AM (27 May 1904 – 11 July 1984) was a long serving Australian federal member of parliament. Born of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

/Irish parentage in

Lowther, New South Wales Lowther is a locality in New South Wales, Australia. The locality is in the City of Lithgow local government area, south west of the state capital, Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New ...

, Luchetti was educated in the Catholic school system before working in jobs as varied as miner and journalist. Involved 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) from an early age, Luchetti was elected to the Lithgow City Council and served on the New South Wales ALP Executive from 1929 to 1931. Luchetti developed a close friendship with the local federal Member of Parliament, the future

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Ben Chifley Joseph Benedict Chifley (; 22 September 1885 – 13 June 1951) was an Australian politician and train driver who served as the 16th prime minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949. He held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), and was n ...

, and served as Chifley's campaign manager for the electoral

Division of Macquarie The Division of Macquarie ( ) is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The division was created in 1900 and was one of the original 65 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named for Lachlan Ma ...

for two elections. However, following a split in the New South Wales Labor ranks led by New South Wales

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Jack Lang, Luchetti, a Lang supporter, stood against Chifley. The Labor vote split between the two candidates, enabling the opposition

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four Elections in Australia, federal elections in that time, usually governing Coalition (Australia), in coalition ...

candidate, John Lawson, to win the seat. The two would remain on less than cordial terms for the rest of Chifley's life. Luchetti remained active in the Labor movement, however, and following the death of Chifley in 1951, Luchetti won Labor pre-selection for the Macquarie electorate and the subsequent by-election and served as the member for Macquarie until his retirement in 1975.

Early life

Luchetti was born on 27 May 1904 in

. He was the son of Edith Maud (née Hutchison) and Alexander Luchetti; his father was a coal miner. His paternal grandfather Alessandro Luchetti was born in

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

, Italy, and his paternal grandmother Sarah Jennings was born in

County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...

, Ireland. Luchetti was educated at public and Catholic schools in

Newnes Newnes (), an abandoned oil shale mining site of the Wolgan Valley, is located in the Central Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. The site that was operational in the early 20th century is now partly surrounded by Wollemi Nation ...

and Lithgow. He left school at the age of 15 and worked various jobs, including tinning petrol, as a

boilermaker A boilermaker is a Tradesman, tradesperson who Metal fabrication, fabricates steels, iron, or copper into boilers and other large containers intended to hold hot gas or liquid, as well as maintains and repairs boilers and boiler systems.Bure ...

's mate, and as a

blacksmith's striker A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

. He was also a well-known local boxer and rugby league player. After his father's death in 1922, Luchetti became his family's primary breadwinner. He worked at a brickworks at Vale of Clwydd and also at the State Coal Mine at Lithgow.

Labour movement and early political involvement

Luchetti followed his father into the labour movement and was elected president of the Lithgow branch of the Brick, Tile and Pottery Industrial Union in 1923. He joined the Australian Labor Party in the same year. Luchetti served on the Lithgow City Council from 1941 to 1952, including as mayor in 1942 and 1950.

Federal parliament

Luchetti was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1951 Macquarie by-election, caused by the death of former ALP prime minister

. He was re-elected on nine occasions and retired prior to the 1975 federal election.

Personal life

In 1939, Luchetti married Beatrice Titus, with whom he had three children. Outside of politics he owned a cattle run near

Wallerawang, New South Wales Wallerawang is a small township in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately northwest of Lithgow adjacent to the Great Western Highway. It is also located on the Main Western railway line at the junctio ...

. Luchetti died in Lithgow on 11 July 1984, aged 80.

References

* Day, D. (2001) ''Chifley'', HarperCollins, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Luchetti, Tony 1904 births 1984 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Lang Labor politicians Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Macquarie Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Order of Australia Australian miners Australian people of Italian descent Australian people of Irish descent Australian MPs 1951–1954 Australian MPs 1954–1955 Australian MPs 1955–1958 Australian MPs 1958–1961 Australian MPs 1961–1963 Australian MPs 1963–1966 Australian MPs 1966–1969 Australian MPs 1969–1972 Australian MPs 1972–1974 Australian MPs 1974–1975