Thomas Glassey was an Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

-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 County Armagh

County Armagh

-History:Ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh. The site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha...

, he received no formal education, working as a mill-worker and miner in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 and England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. He migreated to Australia around 1885, when he became a miner at Bundamba

Bundamba, Queensland

Bundamba is a large suburb of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia.Bundamba stretches from the Bremer River to the north, across Brisbane Rd, the main arterial link to the Ipswich Motorway, to the Cunningham Highway in the south...

, and was Secretary of the Bundamba Miners Association. He was a founding 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...

 in Queensland, and was the first Labor member of any Australian parliament when he was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly

Queensland Legislative Assembly

The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...

 in 1889 as the member for Bundamba

Electoral district of Bundamba

The Electorate of Bundamba is a Queensland Legislative Assembly electoral division in the state of Queensland, Australia.The electorate encompasses suburbs in the east and south-east of the City of Ipswich local government area...

. Defeated in 1893, he was subsequently member for Burke from 1894 to 1896 and Bundaberg

Electoral district of Bundaberg

The division of Bundaberg is an electoral district of the Queensland Legislative Assembly in central Queensland, Australia.It covers the city of Bundaberg, as well as the immediate surrounding area, hence its name....

 from 1896 to 1900. He left the Labor Party in 1899 over the party's socialist objective. In 1901, he was elected 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,...

 for Queensland, unofficially as a Protectionist

Protectionist Party

The Protectionist Party was an Australian political party, formally organised from 1889 until 1909, with policies centred on protectionism. It argued that Australia needed protective tariffs to allow Australian industry to grow and provide employment. It had its greatest strength in Victoria and in...

 (though there was no protectionist organisation in Queensland at the time). In 1903, the National Liberal Union endorsed non-Labor candidates, and Glassey, as a Deakin

Alfred Deakin

Alfred Deakin , Australian politician, was a leader of the movement for Australian federation and later the second Prime Minister of Australia. In the last quarter of the 19th century, Deakin was a major contributor to the establishment of liberal reforms in the colony of Victoria, including the...

ite, did not receive endorsement. He contested the Senate as an independent

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

 protectionist and received 25.6% of the vote, but was not elected. Glassey died in 1936.

External links

• Glassey Thomas — Brisbane City Council Grave Location Search