
Frank Anstey photograph neg.239 National Library of
Australia
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THE NATIONAL
LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA'S FEDERATION
GATEWAY
ANSTEY, FRANCIS GEORGE (1865-1940)
Anstey was born on 18 August 1865
in London. At the age of 11 years, Frank stowed away on a full-rigged passenger
vessel bound for Australia. He jumped ship in Sydney and worked the Pacific
islands trade as a cabin boy.
He joined the Seamen's Union in 1883 and
became an active supporter of socialism. He developed into a fiery speaker and
pamphleteer, and in 1902 was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Victoria as
Labor representative for East Bourke. He remained in the Assembly until 1910
when he entered the House of Representatives as a member for Bourke; (his stand
on public control of finance made him a strong supporter of the creation of the
Commonwealth Bank), a seat he held until his retirement in 1934.
In
1922 he became Deputy Leader of the Federal Labor Party, and from October 1929
to March 1931 he was Minister for Health and Repatriation.
When Anstey
died on 30 October 1940, John Curtin paid tribute to him as a 'remarkable
figure', a worker to whom the Labor movement owed much, and the man who had
influenced him (Curtin) to the greatest extent.
Books of
interest
Lang, J. T. (John Thomas). (1980). The
Great Bust: the Depression of the Thirties . Katoomba, N.S.W.: McNamara's
Books.
Anstey, Francis George. The Tocsin (1897-1906) located at
mfm NX 238. |