David Murray was an Australian politician and 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...

 from 1921 until his death in 1928. He was 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...

 (ALP) .

Murray was born in Balmain, New South Wales

Balmain, New South Wales

Balmain is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Balmain is located slightly west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Leichhardt....

 and was educated to elementary level at St Benedict's School, Chippendale. He was employed as a painter by the New South Wales Government Railways

New South Wales Government Railways

The New South Wales Government Railways was the government department that operated the New South Wales Government's railways until the establishment of the Public Transport Commission in 1972. Although later known officially as the Department of Railways, New South Wales, it was still generally...

 in Newcastle, New South Wales

Newcastle, New South Wales

The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...

 but was dismissed during the 1917 strike

Australian General Strike of 1917

The General Strike of 1917 was a general strike which began in the Australian state of New South Wales and spread to other states over six weeks from 2 August to 8 September 1917.-Background:...

. He was eventually re-employed in a lower graded position as a car cleaner. Murray became an official of the Amalgamated Coach-workers Union. At the 1920 state election, conducted by proportional representation, he was the fourth (and first unsuccessful) candidate on the ALP list for the 5 member seat of Newcastle

Electoral district of Newcastle

Newcastle is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales named after and including Newcastle. It is represented by Tim Owen of the Liberal Party of Australia.-History:...

. Consequently he was appointed to the parliament on the death of William Kearsley

William Kearsley

William Kearsley was an Australian politician and member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1910 until 1921. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party ....

. He was re-elected at the 1922 and 1925

New South Wales state election, 1925

The 1925 New South Wales state election was held on 30 May 1925. This election was for all of the 90 seats in the 27th New South Wales Legislative Assembly and it was conducted in multiple member constituencies with compulsory preferential single transferable vote usit the Hare Clark system)...

 elections. After the abolition of proportional representation and multi-member seats he was elected to the seat of Hamilton at the 1927

New South Wales state election, 1927

The 1927 New South Wales state election to elect the 90 members of the 28th Legislative Assembly was held on 8 October 1927. During the previous parliament the voting system, which had been a form of proportional representation with multi-member seats and a single transferable vote , was changed...

election but died in the following year and was succeeded by James Smith

James Smith (New South Wales politician)

James Edward Smith was an Australian politician and member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1928 until 1930. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party ....

. He did not hold ministerial or party office.