People Australia

Tony Mullivhill, 1974

National Archives of Australia, A8746:KN22/8/74/26

James Anthony (Tony) Mulvihill (1917-2000) railway employee, trade union official and parliamentarian

Birth: 27 April 1917 at North Ryde, Sydney, New South Wales, son of native-born parents James Bernard (Jim) Mulvihill (1876-1953), a gas worker, and Agnes Ellen, née McNamara (1887-1971). Marriage: 5 June 1970 at St Canice’s Catholic Church, Elizabeth Bay, Sydney to Pamela Dawn O'Connell. They later divorced, but remained friends. Death: 10 December 2000 at the Anita Villa Nursing Home, Katoomba, NSW; late of Concord, Sydney. Religion: Catholic. 

• Educated at De La Salle College Ashfield, Sydney, Tony was employed in the NSW Railways from 1937 to 1957, first as acting locomotive fireman, subsequently in workshop grades including as an overhead crane driver in the Chullora workshop.
• Member of the Australian Railways Union (ARU) from 1947. Vice-president of the Chullora sub-branch of the ARU in the early 1950s; chairman of the Chullora loco shop stewards committee. Represented the sub-branch at successive ARU State conferences. Trustee NSW branch of the ARU 1947-1950.
• Represented the ARU on the NSW Trades and Labor Council (TLC) 1948-1950. Member of the Migrant Hostels Investigation Committee, NSW TLC and secretary. Secretary of the  Social Services Committee NSW TLC. ARU delegate to Australian Labor Party State conferences.
• Joined Concord Branch ALP in 1943 or 1945. Member of ALP State executive 1951-1952, and 1956-1957; assistant secretary NSW ALP 1957-1965.
• Elected Senator for New South Wales from 1965 to 1983. Delegate ALP National Federal Conference 1955-84, often serving as chairman of the Immigration policy committee. Officer in Lowe Federal Electorate Council; officer in Concord State Electoral Council up to 1968 when it was dissolved; campaign director for W. J. Carlton MP and Tony Murphy MP. Deputy chairman of Senate Committee 1975-1983; chairman of Federal Parliamentary Labor Party industrial relations/immigration committee 1975-82; member of Senate migrant civil rights committee 1974; member of joint committee on foreign affairs 1967-1972; chairman of Immigration Advisory Council; member of the social environment committee; member Parliamentary delegation to Council of Europe 1971.
• Visited United Kingdom and Europe several times and had written to Yugoslavia; member Senate water pollution committee; member of Senate environmental committee 1974-1983; member of joint parliamentary committee on wildlife conservation. Participated in World National Parks Conference in Kenya 1975 and National Environment Conference in Jamaica in 1977. Chairman of the NSW ALP branch’s National Parks/Reservations Committee which campaigned for the preservation of parklands against despoliation of land developments. Led campaign for a national park in Western Division of NSW as a sanctuary for kangaroos.
• After retirement from the Senate at the 1983 general elections, Mulvihill served on the National Population Council and the Security Appeals Tribunal. Was employees representative on the Railway Service Superannuation Account Board; chairman of ALP NSW branch Ethnic Affairs Committee in 1990 at least.
• Member of Chullora Loco tug-o-war team which won the Metropolitan Railway premiership, 1953-1954-1955. Member Randwick Labor Club, Apia Club and Glenmore Golf Club. ARU life member in 1983. Life member ALP NSW branch in 1990, nominated by Concord West/Rhodes/Concord branches of the ALP. 

Sources
Joan Rydon (ed), A biographical register of the Commonwealth Parliament 1901-1972 (ANU Press, 1975); Railroad July 1990 p.8; ALP Year Book, 1973; ALP Year Book, NSW Branch 1966; Australian Postal Clerk, October 1964, p 1; David Clune, James Anthony Mulvilhill, in Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate: https://biography.senate.gov.au/mulvihill-james-anthony/)