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Thomas Mutch

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For the American geologist and planetary scientist, see Thomas A. Mutch. Australian politician

Thomas Davies Mutch (17 October 1885 – 4 June 1958) was an Australian politician.

Early life

Born in London to busdriver William Murdoch Mutch and Sarah Davies, he arrived in New South Wales in 1887 and was educated at Double Bay Public School. He was subsequently a shearer for four years and joined the Australian Workers' Union, becoming a staff worker in 1903 and helping to found the Australian Writers and Artists Union in 1910. On 23 September 1912 he married Edith Marjorie Hasenham; he remarried on 26 March 1928 Dorothy Anette Joyce at Melbourne, with whom he had two children. From 1915 to 1916 he was New South Wales president and federal vice-president of the Australian Journalists' Association, and was convicted of incitement after the 1917 general strike.

Politics

He was an alderman at Mascot from 1923 to 1930 and Randwick from 1931 to 1937. Having been a member of the Australian Labor Party's central executive from 1913 to 1917, he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1917 as the Labor member for Botany. He served as Minister of Public Instruction from 1921 to 1922 and Minister for Education from 1925 to 1927, when he was expelled from the New South Wales Labor Party as a leading opponent of Premier Jack Lang. Defeated as an Independent Labor candidate in 1927, he became a freelance journalist and in 1931 joined the fledgling United Australia Party. He returned to the Legislative Assembly in 1938 as the UAP member for Coogee, but resigned from the UAP and was defeated in 1941. Mutch died at Coogee in 1958.

His great-nephew Stephen Mutch was a state and federal Liberal MP.

References

  1. "Mr Thomas Davies Mutch (1885-1958)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  2. "Maiden speech". Hansard. Parliament of Australia. 20 May 1996. Retrieved 11 April 2021.

 

New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Preceded byFred Page Member for Botany
1917 – 1920 		District abolished
New district
MMP introduced 		Member for Botany
1920 – 1927
Served alongside: Hickey/Ratcliffe, Burke, McKell, Lee 		District abolished
New district
MMP abolished 		Member for Botany
1927 – 1930 		Succeeded byBob Heffron
Preceded byJohn Dunningham Member for Coogee
1938 – 1941 		Succeeded byLou Cunningham
Political offices
Preceded byAugustus James Minister of Public Instruction
1920 – 1921 		Succeeded byThomas Ley
Preceded byJohn Daniel FitzGerald Minister for Local Government
1920 – 1921 		Succeeded byGeorge Cann
Preceded byThomas Ley Minister of Public Instruction
1921 – 1922 		Succeeded byAlbert Bruntnell
Preceded byAlbert Bruntnellas Minister of Public Instruction Minister for Education
1925 – 1927 		Succeeded byBilly Daviesas Minister of Public Instruction


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