Jack Duggan | |
|---|---|
 Duggan in 1963. | |
| 16thDeputy Premier of Queensland | |
| In office 16 March 1953 – 7 June 1957 | |
| Premier | Vince Gair |
| Preceded by | Tom Foley |
| Succeeded by | Ted Walsh |
| Leader of the Opposition of Queensland | |
| In office 18 August 1958 – 11 October 1966 | |
| Deputy | Eric Lloyd Jack Houston |
| Preceded by | Jim Donald |
| Succeeded by | Jack Houston |
| Leader of the Labor Party in Queensland Elections:1957,1960,1963,1966 | |
| In office 18 August 1958 – 11 October 1966 | |
| Deputy | Eric Lloyd (1958–1966) Jack Houston (1966) |
| Preceded by | Jim Donald |
| Succeeded by | Jack Houston |
| In office 24 April 1957 – 15 August 1957 | |
| Deputy | Felix Dittmer |
| Preceded by | Vince Gair |
| Succeeded by | Les Wood |
| Deputy Leader of the Labor Party in Queensland | |
| In office 16 March 1953 – 24 April 1957 | |
| Leader | Vince Gair |
| Preceded by | Tom Foley |
| Succeeded by | Felix Dittmer |
| Member of theQueensland Legislative Assembly forToowoomba West North Toowoomba (1958–1960) | |
| In office 31 May 1958 – 17 May 1969 | |
| Preceded by | Les Wood |
| Succeeded by | Ray Bousen |
| Member of theQueensland Legislative Assembly forToowoomba | |
| In office 14 December 1935 – 3 August 1957 | |
| Preceded by | Evan Llewelyn |
| Succeeded by | Mervyn Anderson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Edmund Duggan (1910-12-30)30 December 1910 Port Augusta,South Australia,Australia |
| Died | 19 June 1993(1993-06-19) (aged 82) Toowoomba,Queensland,Australia |
| Resting place | Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery |
| Political party | Labor |
| Spouse | Beatrice Mary Dunne (m.1935 d.1984) |
| Occupation | Shop assistant |
John Edmund Duggan (30 December 1910 – 19 June 1993) was a member of theQueensland Legislative Assembly. He was theDeputy Premier of Queensland from 1953 until 1957 andLeader of the Opposition of Queensland from 1958 until 1966.[1]
Duggan was born atPort Augusta,South Australia, the son of John Stephen Duggan and his wife Charlotte (née Mathieson). He was educated at theMarree andHoyleton primary schools before attending aMarist Brothers college in South Australia. By the age of 14 he was orphaned with his mother dying in December 1922 during child birth and his father dying fromspinal tuberculosis two years later and Duggan and his siblings were cared for by an auntie and uncle inToowoomba. He then left school and took up a job as a sales assistant to help support his younger brothers and sisters.[1]
He gained official leave from parliament[1] to join theAustralian Army in 1941 duringWorld War II, serving in the 25th Battalion seeing action inNew Guinea. By the time he was discharged in 1944 he had risen to the rank ofcaptain.[2]
Duggan was the state president of the Shop Assistants Union and also president of the Toowoomba branch of the ALP at just 21 years of age. Three years later, he won the seat ofToowoomba for theLabor Party in the 1935by-election to replace the sitting member,Evan Llewelyn. He went on to represent Toowoomba for the next 22 years.[1]
In 1947 Duggan was promoted to the Transport portfolio, a post he retained underNed Hanlon andVince Gair. From 1953 onward, he was also deputy premier. He lost his cabinet posts when Gair led almost half of his caucus, including the entire cabinet except for Duggan, out of the ALP and formed theQueensland Labor Party in 1957.
Duggan succeeded Gair as state Labor leader.[1] When Gair's government soughtsupply, Duggan led Labor to vote against the motion. TheCoalition, led byFrank Nicklin, also voted against the motion and brought the government down.
At theensuing election, Duggan led Labor to second place in the overall vote and 20 seats. However, since every ALP MP was opposed by a QLP challenger and vice versa, the Labor vote was hopelessly divided. Thefirst past the post system denied the Labor forces the option of directing preferences to each other even if they'd wanted to. Taking advantage of the large number of three-cornered contests, Nicklin led the Coalition to a decisive victory, taking 42 seats against only 31 for the two Labor factio s combined. Duggan himself was defeated byLiberalMervyn Anderson.[1]
The Labor Party was eager to get Duggan back into the legislature. Despite having no connection with the electorate ofGregory in central Queensland, he contested a by-election for that seat. He was defeated by a local Country Party candidate,Sir Wallace Rae. In March 1958, Duggan's successor as state Labor leader,Les Wood, suddenly died. Duggan became the ALP candidate for Wood's seat ofNorth Toowoomba. Duggan won the seat comfortably to return to the legislature.[1]
North Toowoomba was abolished before thenext state election and Duggan followed most of his constituents into the new seat ofToowoomba West. He represented the electorate until1969 when he retired from parliament.[1]
Duggan served as opposition leader until 1966, a time filled with difficulty. He not only had to deal with the presence of the QLP, which merged into theDemocratic Labor Party in 1962, but was faced with particularly strenuous infighting within what was left of the ALP's parliamentary representation. His position was made even more difficult with the reintroduction ofpreferential voting in 1963. As a result, the DLP not only siphoned off votes from the ALP, but directed its preferences to the Coalition. Thus, the Coalition won elections in 1963 and 1966 without serious difficulty.[1]
Following the1966 election Duggan supportedJack Houston's successful challenge to deputy leaderEric Lloyd. Three months later on 11 October 1966 Duggan abruptly resigned as leader due to a "taxation difficulty of some magnitude" with Houston replacing him.[3]
Having left state politics, Duggan remained in public life. He was elected to theToowoomba City Council and wasMayor of Toowoomba in 1981.[1]
OnBoxing Day, 1935 he married Beatrice Mary Dunne atSt Patrick's Cathedral in Toowoomba[4] and together had one son and one daughter.[1]
Duggan died in June 1993 and his funeral was held at St Patrick's Cathedral[5] and proceeded to theDrayton and Toowoomba Cemetery.[6]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Deputy Premier of Queensland 1953–1957 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Leader of the Opposition in Queensland 1958–1966 | Succeeded by |
| Parliament of Queensland | ||
| Preceded by | Member forToowoomba 1935–1957 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member forNorth Toowoomba 1958–1960 | Abolished |
| New seat | Member forToowoomba West 1960–1969 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| People | |
