Date of Birth: 07/09/1882, Parkes, NSW, Australia
Date of Death: 15/06/1953, Leichhardt, NSW, Australia
Qualifications, occupations and interests
William J was a cabinetmaker. He was employed in furniture trade and in railways; he later became a sawmill hand. He was an official of the Furniture Trades' Union, delegate to the Trades and Labor and Council (TLC), president; foundation member of the Industrial Vigilance Council in 1916, and delegate to Anti Conscription League in 1916.
Political Party Activity
In 1917 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the member for Annandale, transferring to Murray with the introduction of proportional representation in 1920.
Dates of his parliamentary service were as follows:
William J O'Brien died in Leichhardt in 1953. He was buried with family in the Roman Catholic cemetery at Rookwood (SEC*M2*2**203) after a funeral service at St Brendan's Roman Catholic Church, Annandale.
STRANGE GAME OF ROULETTEThe first election in which the Waratah Fund operated took place in 1925. Labor won. Only one member was entitled to collect. He took out his full £600. The lucky — or unlucky— member in this strange game of political Russian roulette was William Joseph O'Brien, who represented Murray with headquarters in Albury. His place was taken by Vernon Goodin, a school teacher, very prominent in the 1927 split. The Waratah Fund worked very well after Labor won the election. But when it lost, the story was altogether different. In 1930 it was a great success. In 1932 it was a debacle. That Parliament had lasted 20 months, so each member had paid in £20. There were 56 Labor members in the Parliament, so the total contributions amounted to £1120. There was a landslide against Labor, and after May, 1932, only 24 members returned. So 32 members had to collect from the Waratah Fund. They received £38 2s 6d each, which was not very much with which to face the economic blizzard raging outside.Source:Truth (Sydney, NSW : 1894 - 1954) Sun 15 Aug 1954 Page 34
