John Barnes (17 July 1868 – 31 January 1938) was a union official and Australian federal politician representing the Labor Party.
Barnes was born at Hamilton, South Australia the son of John Thomas Barnes, a drover who had emigrated from Somerset, England, and his wife, Mary, née Comerford, from County Clare, Ireland. Barnes was educated at a local primary school but left to obtain work as a farm labourer, shearer, miner and general bush worker; ...
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John Barnes (17 July 1868 – 31 January 1938) was a union official and Australian federal politician representing the Labor Party.
Barnes was born at Hamilton, South Australia the son of John Thomas Barnes, a drover who had emigrated from Somerset, England, and his wife, Mary, née Comerford, from County Clare, Ireland. Barnes was educated at a local primary school but left to obtain work as a farm labourer, shearer, miner and general bush worker; his father had died when the boy was six. In his swag he carried copies of works by Henry George, Robert Blatchford, Henry Lawson and other writers on economic and social questions and he thus became largely self-educated.
Barnes was an early member of the Shearers' Union, (later named the Australian Workers' Union), became General Secretary in 1908 and afterwards President. He was Secretary of the Victoria-Riverina branch for a period, and held that position when he was elected a federal Senator for Victoria in 1913. He was defeated at the...
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