John Thomas Lutey was 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...

 member for the Western Australian Legislative Assembly

Western Australian Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Perth....

 seat of Brownhill-Ivanhoe from 1917 to 1932.

John Lutey was born on 18 December 1876 at Eaglehawk

Eaglehawk, Victoria

Eaglehawk is a former gold-mining town in Victoria, Australia and a suburb within the City of Greater Bendigo.The town is situated to the north-west of Bendigo on the Loddon Valley Highway. The highway is known locally as High Street until the intersection with Sailors Gully Road and as Peg Leg...

 near Bendigo

Bendigo, Victoria

Bendigo is a major regional city in the state of Victoria, Australia, located very close to the geographical centre of the state and approximately north west of the state capital Melbourne. It is the second largest inland city and fourth most populous city in the state. The estimated urban...

 in Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

. In 1895 he migrated to Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 with his brother and sister, working as a gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

 miner

Miner

A miner is a person whose work or business is to extract ore or minerals from the earth. Mining is one of the most dangerous trades in the world. In some countries miners lack social guarantees and in case of injury may be left to cope without assistance....

 at Kalgoorlie until at least 1904. In 1899, he returned to Victoria for a time, and while there he married Millie Hebbard. In 1907 Lutey was working as a filter pressman, and in 1915 he was a mill hand.

Lutey became active in the trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

 movement, and joined the Australian Labour Party. On 19 August 1916, he contested the Legislative Assembly seat of Brownhill-Ivanhoe in a by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

, after the incumbent John Scaddan

John Scaddan

John Scaddan, CMG , popularly known as "Happy Jack", was Premier of Western Australia from 7 October 1911 until 27 July 1916.- Biography :...

 resigned the seat to contest the seat of Canning in a ministerial by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

. Lutey won Brownhill-Ivanhoe, but Scaddan did not win Canning. Lutey subsequently resigned Brownhill-Ivanhoe on 15 September, not having being sworn in, to allow Scaddan to reclaim the seat.

In May 1917, Lutey unsuccessfully contested for a Western Australian seat in the Australian Senate

Australian Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

. Two months later he contested Brownhill-Ivanhoe in a ministerial by-election, this time in opposition to Scaddan, who had joined the Nationalist Party

Nationalist Party of Australia

The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...

. Lutey won the seat, and would hold it until his death on 22 June 1932. From July 1924 until January 1930, he was Chairman of Committees in Philip Collier

Philip Collier

Philip Collier was Premier of Western Australia for nine years, the longest ever term for an Australian Labor Party premier....

's government. He's buried in Fremantle Cemetery, WA, Australia.