People Australia

Edward Horsington, n.d.

Edward Matthew (Ted) Horsington (1878-1947) drover, miner, trade union official, alderman and parliamentarian

Birth: 2 May 1878 at Timor, central goldfields, Victoria, son of John Waygood Horsington (1834-1910), farmer and fencing contractor, born at Banwell, Somerset, England, and Julia, née Farrell (1843-1898), born in Kings County (Offaly), Ireland. Marriage: 31 December 1906 at Broken Hill, New South Wales, to Rosalie Stephanie Bryksy (1882-1946), born in South Australia, of Polish ancestry. They had two daughters; the younger died in childhood. Death: 23 July 1947 at Waverley, Sydney, NSW. Religion: Catholic. 

• Educated in Maryborough, and at Footscray Public School, Was a cattle boy on a Queensland station at the age of 14.
• Drover and miner in Queensland, NSW and Western Australia for many years.
• To Broken Hill in 1898, did some droving and opal mining and worked for nine years on the surface at the big mine. After the 1909 lockout he was employed at De Bavay’s on the north, and on Block 14, firing, winch-driving, boilermaking and at similar occupations.
• A member of the Federated [Amalgamated] Engine Drivers and Firemens' Association, he was part-time branch secretary from 1909 to 1911 and then full time until 1922; was sometime president of the federal council of the association and president and secretary of the Barrier District Assembly of the Political Labor League (Australian Labor Party).
• In 1914 he was elected to Broken Hill Council, on which for some years he was the only Labor alderman.
• Appointed member of the NSW Legislative Assembly for the seat of Sturt on 22 September 1922 (casual vacancy on the death of Jabez Wright). Was Minister of Lands and Forests from May to October 1927. Worked hard for the Darling River water scheme.
• Expelled from ALP in 1936, readmitted 1937. Joined Heffron group after 1938 election. Was defeated in ALP preselection for his seat in December 1946 and retired from parliament on 29 March 1947.
• Appointed justice of the peace in 1914. Was workers’ representative on the Broken Hill Hospital board for several terms.
• Memorial Drive in Broken Hill named for him.

Sources
Labor Year Book 1933, p 171 & 1934/35 p 231; Heather Radi, Peter Spearritt & Elizabeth Hinton,; Australian Worker (Sydney), 9 February 1922 p 7; NSW Parliamentary Debates, Second Session 1922 Vol. 89.