Preceded by Donald Cameron Occupation Trade union organizer Succeeded by Manfred Cross Party Australian Labor Party | Nationality Australian Name George Lawson Full Name George Lawson Religion Roman Catholic Resigned November 2, 1961 | |
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Born 14 August 1880
South Pine River, Queensland ( 1880-08-14 ) Spouse(s) Rebecca Jane Buchanan (m.1907 d.1918) Kathleen Lally (m.1935 d.1994) Role Former Member of the Australian Parliament Died November 25, 1966, Ashgrove, Brisbane, Australia Previous office Member of the Australian Parliament (1931–1961) Resting place Pinnaroo Cemetery and Crematorium, Brisbane | ||
Political party Australian Labor Party | ||
George Lawson (14 August 1880 – 25 November 1966) was an Australian trade union official and politician.
Lawson was born in South Pine River, near Caboolture, Queensland, and educated at Warner State School. He fought in the Boer War in South Africa with the 5th (Queensland Imperial Bushmen) Contingent in 1901–02 and was mentioned in dispatches. He married Rebecca Jane Buchanan in 1907 and they had two sons but she died in 1918. In 1907, he helped found the Brisbane Trolleymen, Draymen and Carter's Union and was elected its secretary in 1908. The union later became the Carters and Drivers' Union and in 1912 he was elected its general secretary, a position he held for almost twenty years. He was president of the Trades and Labour Council of Queensland in 1924 and 1927. At the time of his election to the House of Representatives, he was secretary of the Road Transport Workers' Union.
Political career
Lawson was elected an alderman of the Windsor Town Council from 1916 to 1921 and appointed as an Australian Labor Party member of the Queensland Legislative Council in 1919, and helped bring about its abolition in 1922. He was elected the member for Brisbane in the Australian House of Representatives in the 1931 elections. In 1935 he married Kathleen Lally. With the election of the Curtin government in 1941 he became Minister for Transport, but lost his position in the ministry after the 1943 elections. After Labor's defeat in 1949 elections, he was a strong supporter of H. V. Evatt and opponent of both communists and groupers.
Lawson retired from parliament in 1961. He died at his home in the Brisbane suburb of Ashgrove in 1966 and was buried in Pinnaroo Cemetery.