John Valentine MacDonald (14 February 1880 – 17 August 1937) was a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

-born Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician. Born in Opotiki

Opotiki

Opotiki is a town in the eastern Bay of Plenty in the North Island of New Zealand. It houses the headquarters of the Opotiki District Council and comes under the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.-Population:* of the town: 4176 - Male 1,989, Female 2,187...

 in New Zealand, he was educated in the country before becoming a printer. He migrated to Australia in 1897, becoming a journalist and editor; he was editor of the Brisbane Standard in 1913. He was also a founding member of the Australian Journalists' Association. On 26 May 1922, he was appointed to 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,...

 as a Labor

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...

 Senator for Queensland, filling the casual vacancy caused by the death of Nationalist

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...

 Senator John Adamson

John Adamson (Australian politician)

John Adamson was an English-born Australian politician. Born in Durham, he received a primary education before becoming a shoemaker, blacksmith and lay preacher. He migrated to Australia in 1878, becoming a Methodist minister in Queensland...

. He was defeated in the 1922 election

Australian federal election, 1922

Federal elections were held in Australia on 16 December 1922. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes lost its majority...

, but was re-appointed on 1 August 1928 following the death of another Nationalist, Senator Thomas Givens

Thomas Givens

Thomas Givens was an Irish-born Australian politician. Born in County Tipperary, he received a primary education before migrating to Australia in 1882. He became a bush worker and miner in Queensland, and was secretary of the Queensland Miners' Union, as well as proprietor of the Cairns Daily Times...

. He was defeated again at the 1928 election

Australian federal election, 1928

Federal elections were held in Australia on 17 November 1928. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...

. MacDonald was finally elected in his own right in the election of 1931

Australian federal election, 1931

Federal elections were held in Australia on 19 December 1931. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...

, taking his place in the Senate in 1932. He died in 1937, necessitating the appointment of another (in this case, Labor's Ben Courtice) to fill his own casual vacancy.