Thomas Joseph Ryan
1875 — 1921
Thomas Joseph Ryan (7A‑3A‑1)
Ryan was born in 1875 at Boothapool near Port Fairy (also known as Belfast), the son of Timothy Joseph Ryan and Jane Cullen. The family arrived from Ireland in 1860. Ryan began his education at Melbourne University and studied law while teaching classics at Church Grammar, Launceston, Tasmania. He obtained his degree in 1899.
Ryan was second master at Rockhampton Grammar 1901—1903 and was admitted to the Queensland Bar in December 1901. In 1903 he was President of the Rockhampton Branch of the Australian Natives Association. He joined the Labor Party in 1904 and won the seat of Barcoo in 1909. He owned the Rockhampton Daily Record newspaper from 1910. In July 1912 he became deputy‑leader, and by December was leader of the Labor Party. Winning the elections in 1915, he became Premier of Queensland, Chief Secretary and Attorney General until 1919 when he entered Federal politics. With John Fihelly, he drafted the Workers Compensation Bill and created the State Government Insurance Office and set up the Public Curators Office and the Golden Casket Agency. In 1916 he visited the troops at the front and also defended Home Rule in Ireland, meeting with Eamonn de Valera in 1919 and chaired the Irish Race Convention in Melbourne called by Archbishop Mannix. He supported voting rights for 18 year olds and gave women the right to stand for Parliament. Entering Federal politics he won the seat of West Sydney in 1919 and was elected Deputy Leader of the House of Representatives.
He suffered from ill health and a bout of influenza caught in England in 1919 later resulted in his death from pneumonia in 1921 at Barcaldine. Archbishops Duhig (Brisbane) and Mannix (Melbourne) both presided over his state funeral from St Stephen’s Cathedral. Ryan was survived by his wife Lily Virginia Cook and a son and daughter. A memorial bronze statue stands in Queens Park on the corner of William and Elizabeth Streets.
Unveiling a statue of Thomas Joseph Ryan at Queen's Park, Brisbane, 1925 — Contributor(s): Sydney Mail, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
