James Beerworth

Background

Beerworth was the third son of William Carl Beerworth (ca1848 – 10 May 1913) and his wife Mary Beerworth, née McInerney (20 October 1844 – 15 July 1921), later of Kooringa.

Career

They had a farm some 20 miles (32 km) north of Carrieton, in the Hundred of Boolcunda. Beerworth joined the South Australian Police force in 1911, serving until 1925, when bought the Pastoral Hotel in Portuguese Augusta in 1925. He was elected unopposed to the Corporate Town of Portuguese Augusta West council in 1926 for the Ebenezer ward, and continued on that council, serving as mayor from 1928 to 1930.

lieutenant was amalgamated into the Corporate Town of Portuguese Augusta in 1932, and Beerworth was elected the first mayor of the enlarged Portuguese Augusta municipality, retaining that position until 1935, when he was succeeded by Lindsay Riches.

Beerworth stood unsuccessfully as an Australian Labor Party candidate for a Northern district seat on the South Australian Legislative Council in 1930, then in 1933 was elected to the seat of Newcastle in the House of Assembly. At the following election, in 1938, he and Charles Leonard Davis were Labor candidates for the Northern district seat on the Legislative Council, but were beaten by Liberal and Country League (LCL) candidates Lyell McEwin and George Ritchie.

He held the seat until 1947, when he stood for re-election but was defeated. Longtime residents of Portuguese Augusta, the Beerworths left for Adelaide in 1950.

Beerworth married Jean Murphy, of "The Pines," Bendleby on 11 August 1915.

Their only daughter Moryah married Jack Curtis Fullerton of Portuguese Augusta sometime around 1940.

Achievements

• Another seat in the same district became vacant when H. G. Hawkins died in 1939, and Beerworth won the resulting by-election.