Everard McDonnell O'Brien (9 April 1907 – 17 August 1971) was an Australian politician who was a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1952 to 1959, representing the seat of Murchison.
Everard O'Brien | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia | |
| In office 8 November 1952 – 21 March 1959 | |
| Preceded by | William Marshall |
| Succeeded by | Richard Burt |
| Constituency | Murchison |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 April 1907 Nunngarra, Western Australia, Australia |
| Died | 17 August 1971 (aged 64) Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia |
| Political party | Labor |
O'Brien was born in Nunngarra, a locality near the town of Sandstone in Western Australia's Mid West region. He went to school in Mount Margaret, and afterward worked as a labourer and shearer. In the 1930s, he went to live in Perth, working initially as a labourer and later as a rail and tram conductor. O'Brien returned to the Mid West in the 1940s, prospecting at Big Bell for a period and later serving as secretary of the Yalgoo Road Board. He first ran for parliament at a 1947 Legislative Council by-election for Central Province, but lost to the Liberal Party's Harold Daffen.[1] O'Brien eventually entered parliament at the 1952 Murchison by-election, which was caused by the death of the sitting Labor member, William Marshall. He was re-elected at the 1953 and 1956 state elections, but at the 1959 election was defeated by the Liberal candidate, Richard Burt.[2] O'Brien remained in Perth after leaving parliament, dying there in August 1971, aged 64. He married twice, and had seven children in total, one of whom, Simon O'Brien, became a Liberal member of parliament.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b Everard McDonnell O'Brien – Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
- ^ Black, David; Prescott, Valerie (1997). Election statistics : Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, 1890-1996. Perth, [W.A.]: Western Australian Parliamentary History Project and Western Australian Electoral Commission. ISBN 0730984095.