Robert Douglas Gorman was an Australian politician and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

 between 1933 and 1950. During his parliamentary career he was, at various times a member of the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

,the Australian Labor Party (NSW)

Australian Labor Party (NSW)

The Australian Labor Party , commonly known as Lang Labor, was the name given to a major breakaway of the Australian Labor Party in New South Wales that operated from 1931 to 1936....

 and the Australian Labor Party (Non-Communist)

Australian Labor Party (Non-Communist)

The Australian Labor Party was the second Lang Labor breakaway party, associated with New South Wales Premier Jack Lang. It operated from 1940 to 1941....

 .

Early life

Gorman was born in Glebe, New South Wales

Glebe, New South Wales

Glebe is an inner-city suburb of Sydney. Glebe is located 3 km south-west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney, in the Inner West region....

 and was the son of a master mariner. He was educated at the Patrician Brothers' School, Glebe and became a warehouseman and commercial traveller. After 1919, he became an officer of the Shop Assistants Union

Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association

The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association is the largest trade union in Australia with more than 230,000 members and branches in every state and one in the Newcastle, Hunter Valley and Central Coast region. The SDA is the union for retail and fast-food workers, but does have other...

. Gorman was elected as an alderman of Glebe Municipal Council
from 1926 until 1934 and was the mayor in 1933.

State Parliament

Gorman was elected to parliament as the Lang Labor

Lang Labor

Lang Labor was the name commonly used to describe three successive break-away sections of the Australian Labor Party, all led by the New South Wales Labor leader Jack Lang premier of NSW .-Initial opposition to Lang's leadership:...

 member for Annandale

Electoral district of Annandale

Annandale was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, created in 1894, with the abolition of multi-member constituencies, from part of Balmain, and named after and including the Sydney suburb of Annandale. With the introduction of proportional...

 at the June 1933 by-election caused by the death of the incumbent Lang Labor member Robert Stuart-Robertson

Robert Stuart-Robertson

Robert James STUART-ROBERTSON was an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1907 until his death and was the Minister for Health for 4 months in 1927...

. Gorman retained the seat until it was abolished by a redistribution at the 1950

New South Wales state election, 1950

The 1950 New South Wales State state election was held on 17 June 1950. It was conducted in single member constituencies with compulsory preferential voting and was held on boundaries created at a 1949 redistribution...

 election. He then attempted to gain Labor pre-selection for the new seat of Newtown-Annandale

Electoral district of Newtown-Annandale

Newtown-Annandale was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It was created in 1950, mainly succeeding Newtown and Annandale. It was abolished in 1953.-Members for Newtown-Annandale:...

 but was defeated by Arthur Greenup

Arthur Greenup

Arthur Edward Greenup was an Australian politician. Born in Sydney, he became a shop assistant at the age of 14. He was an organiser and eventually the President of the Shop Assistants' Union. In 1950, he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the member for Newtown-Annandale,...

.. Gorman was a supporter of the Australian Labor Party (Non-Communist)

Australian Labor Party (Non-Communist)

The Australian Labor Party was the second Lang Labor breakaway party, associated with New South Wales Premier Jack Lang. It operated from 1940 to 1941....

 during the short existence of that manifestation of Lang Labor and was the acting Chairman of Committees (effectively Deputy Speaker) during 2 months in 1949 but did not hold other party, parliamentary or ministerial offices. On leaving parliament, he was appointed as a Commissioner of the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales

Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales

The Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales conciliates and arbitrates industrial disputes, sets conditions of employment and fixes wages and salaries by making industrial awards, approves enterprise agreements and decides claims of unfair dismissal in New South Wales, a state of Australia...

and held that position until he retired in 1963 .