Preceded by Terry Gygar Name Denis Murphy Resting place Mooloolah Cemetery Role Australian Politician | Nationality Australian Party Australian Labor Party Succeeded by Terry Gygar | |
Full Name Denis Joseph Murphy Born 6 August 1936
Nambour, Queensland, Australia ( 1936-08-06 ) Spouse(s) Gwendoline May Butcher (m.1959) Alma mater University of Queensland, Duke University Died June 21, 1984, Brisbane, Australia Books Democracy Australian Style - is it Coping: A Paper Delivered to the Darling Downs History Teachers' Association, 10 October, 1977 Education University of Queensland, Duke University | ||
Political party Australian Labor Party | ||
Dr. Denis Joseph Murphy (6 August 1936 in Nambour, Queensland – 21 June 1984), was an Australian Labor Party politician, historian and biographer.
Murphy taught as an academic at the University of Queensland, writing extensively on the history of Labor in that state. Along with Peter Beattie, he was the leading figure in the push during the late 1970s to have the Queensland branch of the party reformed. After the success of the reform movement, and intervention from the party's federal headquarters, he became State Branch President.
He was elected to the Parliament of Queensland for the electorate of Stafford at the 1983 state election.
Murphy completed biographies on a number of Queensland ALP figures, notably Thomas J. Ryan and Bill Hayden. He was working on a biography of Andrew Fisher before his death.
Murphy was diagnosed with cancer in 1983 and died in 1984, aged 47. He died before having the opportunity to make a speech as a Member of Parliament.