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Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia

Joseph Bertram Sleeman

Parliamentary Service

House

MLA

Party

Labor

Date Elected

22 March 1924

Electorate

Fremantle

Service

Electorates

MLA Fremantle, 22 March 1924–21 March 1959

Office

Speaker, 4 August 1939–31 July 1947

Committees

Chairman of Committees, 20 July 1933–31 January 1939

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association

Represented WA branch Commonwealth Parliamentary Association at 3rd Area Conference, Melbourne, 1955

Historical Notes

Father of the House, April 1956–March 1959

Private Member's Bills

Inaugural Speech

Year Retired/Resigned

1959

Personal Information

Birth date

21 June 1885

Place of birth

Inglewood, Gladstone, Victoria, Australia

Death date

6 July 1970

Cause of death

Place of death

Fremantle Hospital, Western Australia

Cemetery

Fremantle Cemetery, WA

Arrived in WA

Western Australia with parents 1895

Parents

Son of John, engine driver and miner, and Mary Harvey

Marriage and Family

Married (1) 17 September 1913, St Augustine’s Church, Leonora to Eveleen Victoria Kingsbury (born circa 1888 and died 14 March 1943), daughter of George James and Marion Lewis Webb Children two sons and three daughters
Widowed 14 March 1943
Married (2) 14 June 1948, St John’s Church, Fremantle to Florence Mary Jane Logan (nee Armstrong), (born circa 1905), widow, daughter of John and Catherine Ann Spark
No children
Divorced 22 January 1960

Religion

Church of England

Education

Victoria and Day Dawn, Western Australia

Occupation

Blacksmith and union official

Employment History

Worked as cleaner, then storeman, Leonora, until 1913
Blacksmith, metropolitan area, 1914 then storeman and warehouseman at Robert Harpers, Fremantle
Organiser, Shop Assistants Union, 1920–1924

Local Government

Principal Honours

Background/Membership

In Albany, 1919
Captain, Leonora Volunteer Fire Brigade
Prominent athlete, volunteer fire brigades, won numerous medals at demonstrations, life member WA Volunteer Fire Brigade, goldfields
Prominent footballer
Fireman, Voluntary Air Raid Precautions
Supporter, Alf Hines Children’s Holiday Homes, Fremantle, and Gustaphson Dental Clinic
Life member, Fremantle Trotting Club
Patron, South Fremantle Football Club

References

D Black and G Bolton, eds, Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia: volume one 1870-1930, Parliamentary History Project, Perth, WA, 2010, p. 181–182.
Metropolitan Cemeteries Board website. Accessed 14 September 2022. https://portal.mcb.wa.gov.au/name-search/ns-detail/?id=3983b5af-011d-ec11-b6e7-00224814c0bd

Bibliography

Further Information

Dictionary of Western Australians, vol. 5.
West Australian, 7 July 1970.
Who's Who in Australia,1959.