Mr (George) George Muir Black (1854 - 1936)

Date of birth:

Wed 15 February 1854

Place of birth:

Edinburgh, Scotland

Date of death:

Sat 18 July 1936

Place of death:

Lidcombe, New South Wales, Australia

Parliamentary activity

Information about members' parliamentary service including their positions held and biography.

Positions
PositionStartEndPeriodNotes
Member of the NSW Legislative Council Tue 17 July 1917Sun 22 April 193416 years 9 months 6 daysLife Appointments under the Constitution Act: Date of Writ of Summons 6 May 1917. Granted retention of title of 'Honourable' for life.
Prevalence of Venereal Diseases Committee No. 7 Fri 11 August 1916Thu 21 December 19164 months 11 days
Prevalence of Venereal Diseases Committee No. 8 Wed 07 July 1915Thu 13 April 19169 months 7 days
Minister for Public Health Tue 27 April 1915Wed 15 November 19161 year 6 months 20 days
Colonial Secretary Mon 15 March 1915Wed 15 November 19161 year 8 months 1 day
Minister for Agriculture Tue 23 February 1915Mon 15 March 191521 days
Library Committee No. 3 Wed 22 July 1914Tue 23 February 19157 months 2 days
Library Committee No. 3 Wed 11 March 1914Sat 18 April 19141 month 8 days
Elections and Qualifications Committee No. 2 Tue 03 March 1914Wed 11 March 19149 days
Member for Namoi Sat 06 December 1913Wed 21 February 19173 years 2 months 16 days
Library Committee No.4 Wed 06 August 1913Wed 15 October 19132 months 10 days
Elections and Qualifications Committee No.2 Tue 29 July 1913Wed 15 October 19132 months 17 days
Seizure of Timber, Plant &c. and Prosecution of James Ambrose Taylor Committee No.13 Tue 15 October 1912Wed 04 December 19121 month 20 days
Library Committee No.4 Wed 07 August 1912Thu 05 December 19123 months 29 days
Elections and Qualifications Committee No.2 Wed 31 July 1912Thu 05 December 19124 months 6 days
Library Committee No.4 Tue 12 September 1911Thu 28 March 19126 months 17 days
Elections and Qualifications Committee No.2 Wed 30 August 1911Tue 03 October 19111 month 4 days
The Governor’s Opening Speech Committee No.1 Tue 29 August 1911Tue 29 August 19111 day
Timber Industry Committee No.15 Tue 11 July 1911Tue 01 August 191122 days
Elections and Qualifications Committee No.2 Tue 16 May 1911Tue 01 August 19112 months 17 days
Elections and Qualifications Committee No.2 Thu 24 November 1910Fri 23 December 19101 month
Member for Namoi Fri 14 October 1910Thu 06 November 19133 years 24 days
Library Committee No. 4 Tue 28 June 1898Fri 08 July 189811 days
Library Committee No.3 Wed 28 April 1897Fri 10 December 18977 months 13 days
Library Committee No.3 Thu 14 May 1896Mon 16 November 18966 months 3 days
Library. Committee No. 3 Tue 20 August 1895Fri 08 July 18982 years 10 months 19 days
Member for Sydney-Gipps Wed 24 July 1895Fri 08 July 18982 years 11 months 15 days
Library Committee No. 3 Wed 29 August 1894Fri 05 July 189510 months 8 days
Member for Sydney-Gipps Tue 17 July 1894Fri 05 July 189511 months 19 days
Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly Wed 17 June 1891Wed 21 February 191725 years 8 months 5 days
Member for West Sydney Wed 17 June 1891Mon 25 June 18943 years 9 days
Biography

Political party activity

Founder of the Republican League 1888; Member of the Australian Socialist League from 1890 to 1894. Foundation member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). However, he refused to take the pledge in 1893 and won a seat as independent Labor in 1894. He rejoined the Party when the pledge was reworded in 1895. He was a member of the central executive in 1901, 1903, 1911 and 1915-1916. He was expelled over conscription in 1916 and dropped from the Ministry and stood as an independent National in 1917.

Community activity

Commissioned as a Justice of the Peace in 1913; Trustee of the Public Library of New South Wales 1913 to 1916; Director of Royal Prince Alfred Hospital from 1915 to 1916; Director of Sydney Hospital from 1913 to 1936; Member of the Universal Service League in 1915; and Honorary member of the Royal Australian Historical Society in 1932.

Personal information

Son of George Stevenson, a messenger-at-arms, and Isabella Muir. Arrived in Victoria, Australia in 1877 and moved to New South Wales in 1878. Had a cohabitation relationship with Georgina Duggan between 1877 and 1891 and had issue 12 children. Married (1) Rosielinn (Rosalind) Clarkson, nee Singleton on 21 June 1894. Married (2) Priscilla Verne Kelly on 11 April 1928 and had issue 3 daughters and 1 son. Presbyterian faith.

Qualifications, occupations and interests

Newspaper editor. Educated at Thorburn's School at Leith, Scotland. Matriculated in the Faculty of Arts, Edinburgh in 1871. Transferred to medicine in 1873 but left without graduating in 1877. After arriving in New South Wales in 1878, undertook a variety of occupations, including billiard-marker and country journalist. Settled in Sydney as a journalist and worked as sub-editor of the Bulletin from 1889 to 1891; as editor of the Australian Workman from 1891 to 1892; for John Haynes' Elector, later the Newsletter and as editor of the first 17 issues of the Barrier Truth in 1898; as editor of the Sydney Worker from May 1900 to July 1904; as editor and joint owner (with G W Lavender) of the Radical in 1904; as editor of the Bathurst National Advocate in 1908 and was a contributor to the Sunday Times. Black was the author of the following books: In Defence of Robert Burns, 1901; The Origins and Ethics of Landowning, 1903; History of the NSW Labor Party, 1910; A History of the NSW Political Labor Party 1926- 1929; To perpetuate the Memory of Rosalind Singleton Black....., 1918, An Anzac Areopagus and other verses, 1923; and Arbitration's Chequered Career, 1929.

Additional information

Australian Dictionary of Biography, volume seven;
Biographical Register of the New South Wales Parliament 1901 - 1970;
Members of the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales, 1856-1901;
Ken Turner and Michael Hogan (editors), The Worldly Art of Politics, Sydney,
Federation Press, 2006 (Chapter 10: "George Muir Black: Labor publicist", by
Jim Hagan, page 101)
Personal papers in the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales:
George Black - papers, 1874 - 1933, together with letters received, 1913-1919,
by Rosalind Singleton Black (MLMSS 256). George Black - 'History of the New
South Wales Political Labour Party from its conception until 1917, ca.1926
being ts. Manuscript with corrections. (A2562).

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