Bill Barry (politician)

Bill Barry
Minister of Health
In office 21 November 1945 – 20 November 1947
Premier	John Cain
Preceded by	William Haworth
Succeeded by	Albert Dunstan
In office 17 December 1952 – 31 March 1955
Preceded by	Bill Fulton
Succeeded by	Val Doube
Minister of Housing
In office 21 November 1945 – 20 November 1947
Premier	John Cain
Preceded by	William Haworth
Succeeded by	Arthur Warner
Minister of Forests
In office 21 November 1945 – 20 November 1947
Premier	John Cain
Preceded by	William Everard
Succeeded by	Alexander Dennett
Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Carlton
In office 10 July 1932 – 22 April 1955
Preceded by	Robert Solly
Succeeded by	Denis Lovegrove
Personal details
Born	William Peter Barry 30 June 1899 Northcote, Victoria
Died	21 December 1972 (aged 73) Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia
Resting place	Melbourne General Cemetery
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Other political affiliations	Democratic Labor Party Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist)
Spouse(s)	Mary Moodie (m. 1926)
Religion	Roman Catholic

William Peter (Bill) Barry (30 June 1899 – 21 December 1972) was a Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the Electoral district of Carlton from July 1932 until April 1955. Barry was a member of the Australian Labor Party until March 1955, when he was expelled from the party as part of the Australian Labor Party split of 1955. He became, with Les Coleman in the Victorian Legislative Council, joint leader of the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist), a party that in 1957 became the Democratic Labor Party.^[1][2]

Barry was educated at St Brigid's School, North Fitzroy, Victoria and at St Georges School, Carlton, Victoria. He was a tobacco worker and union official before entering Parliament. He was considered close to John Wren, the Victorian entrepreneur.^[3]

Political career

The Communist Party opposed Barry at parliamentary elections in the 1940s with some of its leading members, including Ralph Gibson and Dr Gerald O'Dea.^[4] Barry was Minister for Transport in the first Cain government in 1943, Minister for Health, for Housing, and for Forests in the second Cain government from 1945–1947, and Minister for Health in the third Cain government from 1952–1955,^[5] and also a member of the Melbourne City Council from 1938–1955.

He was expelled from the Labor Party in 1955 and became leader of the Victorian Labor Party (Anti-Communist). He led his group across the floor to support a successful motion of no confidence in John Cain's government. For that perceived act of political treachery, he had thirty pieces of silver thrown at his feet. Noel Counihan's 1955 painting On Parliament Steps, now in the Art Gallery of Ballarat, depicts the incident.^[6] Barry was defeated at the election of 1955 by the ALP candidate Denis (Dinny) Lovegrove.^[7]

Peter Kavanagh

Barry's grandson, Peter Kavanagh, was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council for Western Victoria Region in 2006 representing the Democratic Labor Party, but was defeated at the Victorian state election held in November 2010. Kavanagh was the first DLP candidate to be elected to the Victorian Parliament since 1955, when Frank Scully won the Electoral district of Richmond.

References

1. Robert Murray (1970), The Split, F.W. Cheshire, Melbourne, page 249.
2. Ainsley Symons (2012), 'Democratic Labor Party members in the Victorian Parliament of 1955-1958,' in Recorder (Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, Melbourne Branch) No. 275, November, Pages 4-5.
4. John N. Button (2004), 'Carlton Politics,' in Peter Yule (ed.), Carlton. A History, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Victoria, page 411.
6. Bronwyn Watson, "public works", The Weekend Australian, 4-5 May 2013, Review, p. 11
7. Ross Fitzgerald (2003), The Pope's Battalions. Santamaria, Catholicism and the Labor Split, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Queensland, p.148.