Joseph Benedict Chifley was an Australian politician and 16th Australian Prime Minister from the Australian Labor Party, was one of Australia's most influential prime ministers.
Background
Joseph Benedict Chifley was born in Batherst, New South Wales, in the family of a blacksmith, a Catholic of Irish descent. He was one of four brothers and from 5 to 14 years, most of the time he grew up in the family of his grandfather, who lost all his savings during the bankruptcy of 1892: from which he had taken a dislike to private banks from an early age and for the rest of his life.
Education
Joseph Benedict Chifley attended the Patrician Brothers' School at Bathurst for 2 years.
Career
On leaving school, Ben found work as a cashier's assistant at John Meagher & Co.'s general store, Bathurst. Aware of the disparity between his employer's profits and the wages received by juniors, he felt exploited and dissatisfied. In 1902 he became a shop-boy and subsequently a cleaner and then a fireman in the New South Wales Government Railways and Tramways. Studying four nights a week, he attended classes run by the Workers' Educational
Association and the Bathurst branch technical school. By 1914 he was a first-class locomotive engine driver—the youngest in the State—and part of the 'labour aristocracy'. Chifley was an instructor at the Bathurst Railway Institute, a renowned country Rugby Union footballer, and a competent boxer and cricketer. He was one of the founders of the AFULE (the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen).
Chifley remained a practising Catholic, but his marriage to a non-Catholic ignited criticism in certain Roman Catholic circles. In 1917 he was one of the leaders of a prolonged strike, which resulted in his being dismissed. He was reinstated by Jack Lang's New South Wales Labor government. Chifley represented his union before industrial tribunals and taught himself industrial law.
With a developing interest in union affairs, the Australian Labor Party and local politics, he entered local government as an Abercrombie Shire Councillor during the 1920s. He entered federal politics as Member for Macquarie in 1928. A junior but well-regarded backbench member of the Scullin government (1929–31), he served as Minister for Defence from March 1931 until the downfall of the government later that year. Chifley lost his seat in Labor's devastating loss in 1931 and did not re-enter parliament until the general election of 1940. When the Labor government of John Curtin came to power in 1941 Chifley was appointed Treasurer, a position he held until Curtin's death in 1945. He was also a
member of the Advisory War Council and the War Cabinet.
Following Curtin's death on 5 July 1945, Chifley was elected leader of the Australian Labor Party and became Prime
Minister on 13 July 1945. He remained Prime Minister and Treasurer until his government was defeated in the general election held in December 1949.
Ben Chifley died while still leader of the Labor Party in 1951.
Joseph Benedict Chifley was a supporter of the economic policy of the government of James Scullin and in 1931 was appointed as Minister of Defense.
Views
Quotations:
"We have a great objective - the light on the hill - which we aim to reach by working for the betterment of mankind not only here but anywhere we may give a helping hand. If it were not for that, the Labour movement would not be worth fighting for…"
"One man and a dozen fools would govern better than one man alone. "
"It's no good crying over spilt milk; all we can do is bail up another cow. "
"Never is liberty more easily lost than when we think we are defending it. "
"The job of the evangelist is never easy. "
Membership
Labor Party
,
Australia
Abercrombie Shire Council
,
Australia
1933 - 1947
Opposition
,
Australia
1949 - 1951
Connections
Joseph Benedict Chifley was married to Elizabeth Mackenzie. For many years Chifley lived separately with his wife: at the time of his death with him was his secretary Phyllis Donnelly. Longstanding suspicions that they were lovers were confirmed in the biography of David Day published in 2001.