George Pearce

Sir George Foster Pearce KCVO (14 January 1870 – 24 June 1952) was an Australian politician who was instrumental in founding the Australian Labor Party in Western Australia. Pearce, a carpenter, was born in Mount Barker, South Australia and educated at Red Hill Public School until he was 11. He worked on farms and later became a carpenter in Adelaide, but lost that job in the depression of 1891 and moved to Western Australia. he joined the Amalga... more

Sir George Foster Pearce KCVO (14 January 1870 – 24 June 1952) was an Australian politician who was instrumental in founding the Australian Labor Party in Western Australia. Pearce, a carpenter, was born in Mount Barker, South Australia and educated at Red Hill Public School until he was 11. He worked on farms and later became a carpenter in Adelaide, but lost that job in the depression of 1891 and moved to Western Australia. he joined the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners and soon became heavily involved in the union movement. In April 1897 he married Eliza Maud Barrett. In 1893, Pearce helped found the Progressive Political League, a precursor to the West Australian branch of the ALP. Self-educated in politics and economics, in 1901 he was elected to the first Commonwealth Parliament as a Senator for Western Australia. He narrowly missed out on being a member of the first Labor Party Cabinet when Chris Watson became Prime Minister in 1904. In 1908, he became Minister for... less