Background
Luya was born in Liverpool, England, to parents Abraham Luya and his wife Maria (née Fleetwood).
Businessman clerk director mayor politician
Luya was born in Liverpool, England, to parents Abraham Luya and his wife Maria (née Fleetwood).
Educated at Liverpool, he worked as a shipping clerk in England before finding work as a midshipman on the Anglia eastern trade. He arrived in New South Wales in 1855 before moving to Queensland in 1864 and worked at several jobs before opening Cootharaba Sawmills in 1869 at Gympie. In 1871, Luya helped established McGhie, Luya & Company, a merchant and sawmilling business (now the heritage-listed Mill Point Settlement archeological site).
From 1888–1899 he was managing director of the Queensland Milling Company.
During his career in parliament he formed an alliance with the Premier of Queensland, Thomas McIlwraith. Luya was also an alderman in the South Brisbane Municipal Council, serving as its mayor from 1896–1898.
He was a mayor of South Brisbane and a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. Luya was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, holding the seat of Brisbane South on two separate occasions, from 1888 until his defeat at the 1893 colonial election, and then from March 1899 until his death four months later.