William Russell was a Scottish

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...

-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 Lanarkshire

Lanarkshire

Lanarkshire or the County of Lanark ) is a Lieutenancy area, registration county and former local government county in the central Lowlands of Scotland...

, he was educated in Scotland before becoming a farm worker. Migrating to Australia in 1866, he became a solicitor in 1873 and farmed in South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

. He served on the Caltowie and Carrieton district council

Northern Areas Council

Northern Areas Council is a local government area in the Mid North of South Australia. The main council offices are in Jamestown.Most of the region was first settled in the early 1840s, only a few years after the settlement of Adelaide...

s, and joined 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 1894. In 1895, he was elected to the South Australian Legislative Council

South Australian Legislative Council

The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the House of Assembly...

; he departed the Council in 1900, winning the House of Assembly

South Australian House of Assembly

The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide.- Overview :...

 seat of Burra in 1901. He left the Assembly in 1902. In 1906, 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,...

 as a Labor Senator for South Australia. He died in 1912, necessitating an appointment to replace him; the South Australian Parliament, controlled by the Liberal Party

Commonwealth Liberal Party

The Commonwealth Liberal Party was a political movement active in Australia from 1909 to 1916, shortly after federation....

, successfully installed Liberal John Shannon

John Shannon (Australian politician)

John Wallace Shannon was an Australian politician. Born in Angaston, South Australia, where he was educated, he became a farmer on the Yorke Peninsula and an auctioneer. He served on Maitland Council, of which he was mayor. In 1896, he was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly for...

, the first instance when a Senator of a different party was appointed.