William Mortimer Marshall (22 June 1885 – 19 August 1952) 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 1921 until his death, representing the
seat of Murchison. He served as a minister in the government of
Frank Wise
Frank Joseph Scott Wise AO (30 May 1897 – 29 June 1986) was a Labor Party politician who was the 16th Premier of Western Australia. He took office on 31 July 1945 in the closing stages of the Second World War, following the resignation of ...
.
Marshall was born in
North Creswick, Victoria, a small town near
Ballarat
Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria.
Within mo ...
. His work as a miner took him to
Malaya and
Rhodesia
Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...
, and eventually to Western Australia, where he was employed on the mines at
Lawlers and
Youanmi. Marshall eventually settled in
Meekatharra, where he worked as a locomotive driver.
[William Mortimer Marshall](_blank)
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 23 May 2016. He joined the Labor Party in 1915, and at the
1921 state election was elected to the seat of Murchison, having defeated the sitting member,
John Holman, for
preselection
Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...
.
After the
1939 election, Marshall was appointed chairman of committees in the Legislative Assembly. When Frank Wise replaced
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). ...
as premier in 1945, he was elevated to the ministry, becoming
Minister for Mines,
Minister for Railways, and
Minister for Transport
A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...
. He held his titles until Labor's defeat at the
1947 election.
While on a health trip on the MV ''Kabbarli'' in August 1952, Marshall was taken ill and put ashore at
Darwin, where he would die in hospital. His cousin,
Bob Marshall, was a billiards world champion and briefly also a member of parliament.
Robert James Percival Marshall
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, William
1885 births
1952 deaths
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia
Australian miners
Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
People from Creswick, Victoria
20th-century Australian politicians