People Australia

William Riordan, c.1933

State Library of Queensland, 99183507660002061

William James (Jim) Riordan (1882-1955) miner, trade union official and parliamentarian 

Birth: 20 April 1882 at Mackay, Queensland, son of Irish-born parents William Riordan (1858-1927), timberworker and carrier, from Cork, and Mary, née Walsh (1859-1940), from Ardrahan, Galway. Marriages (1) 28 March 1907 at Mareeba to Queensland-born Annie Helen Page (1886-1941). They had three daughters (one of whom died in childhood) and one son. (2) 2 October 1943 at Coolangatta, New South Wales, to Queensland-born Lyla Elizabeth Boland (1905-2000). They had no children. Death: 15 September 1955 in his home at Herston road, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane. Religion: Catholic.

• Educated at Mackay State School. Worked as a 'boy' on Mareeba Express, Morning Post (Cairns) and Cairns Argus.
• Labourer on Cairns-Mulgrave railway; Redcap miner; fireman and driver with Chillagoe Railway Co. Was president of Chillagoe Amalgamated Workers' Association.
• Organiser with Far North Australian Workers' Union in 1903, state president from 1916 to 1925, state secretary 1925-33.
• Member of Qld central executive of the Australian Labor Party for 14 years. Member of the Legislative Council from 1917 to 1922. Contested seat in the Australian Senate in 1925.
• Chairman of the Royal Commission on Off-course Betting in 1951-1952.
• Member Industrial Court from 1933 to 1953.
• Director of Daily Standard and Worker (Brisbane).
• Cause of death: congestive heart failure, hypertension and diabetes mellitus.

Sources

Daily Standard (Brisbane), 28 January 1925; Worker (Brisbane) 3 December 1925, 19 September 1955; Courier Mail (Brisbane) 16 September 1955; Duncan Bruce Waterson, Biographical register of the Queensland Parliament 1860-1929 (Sydney, 2001).