Family background
Daniel Francis ‘Frank’ Dwyer was born on 5 February 1871 in Port Kembla, NSW, the son of Irish immigrants, Daniel Dwyer, a miner, and Mary Hourigan.
Dwyer never married and died at the age of 71 on 30 July 1942 in Sydney. He was buried at Waverley Cemetery on 1 August 1942.
Occupation & interests
Frank Dwyer worked as a shop assistant and storeman. He was an organiser of the NSW Branch of the Shop Assistants and Warehouse Employees Federation from 1915 to 1920.
Dwyer was elected to the Labor Council of New South Wales as vice-president in 1916-17 and president in 1917-18.
Community activity
Frank Dwyer was a member of the Paddington Labor League, the local branch of the Australian Labor Party, and was secretary in 1910-13. In 1911, Dwyer was appointed a justice of the peace in NSW.
Parliamentary service
Frank Dwyer stood as a Labor Party candidate for the NSW Legislative Assembly (District of Woollahra) in the state election on 13 December 1913. He was defeated by the Liberal Reform Party candidate, William Latimer, losing by a narrow margin of 38 votes.
Dwyer stood again as the fourth name on the Labor Party ticket for the five-member NSW Legislative Assembly seat of Eastern Suburbs at the 1920 state election, the first to be conducted with multi-member electorates. He was unsuccessful, coming eighth.
On 15 December 1920, Dwyer was selected by the Labor Party to fill a casual vacancy in the seat of Eastern Suburbs, which had been vacant since 13 October 1920 due to the death of the sitting Labor MP, James Fingleton.
Due to confusion as to how to fill such vacancies under the proportional electoral system then in place, the vacancy was not filled until the passing of the Parliamentary Elections (Casual Vacancies) Act on 10 December 1920, so that casual vacancies were filled by the next unsuccessful candidate on the incumbent member’s party list, with the Labor Party caucus choosing Dwyer over one of the unsuccessful candidates before him.
Dwyer stood for re-election to his seat at the following state election on 25 March 1922. In an article on his re-election bid, The Australian Worker praised Dwyer as an effective member of parliament: ‘If Frank Dwyer is not an orator he is sincere in his beliefs, solicitous for his constituents, and ever at the call of those needing his services.’ However, he was unsuccessful, with the Labor Party losing their second seat in Eastern Suburbs to the Catholic-focused Democratic Party.
Local government service
Frank Dwyer was first elected an alderman of Paddington Council (Middle Ward) in a by-election on 1 August 1913, the first to represent the Australian Labor Party. This by-election was triggered by the council declaring the seat vacant in July 1913 due to the absences of the sitting alderman, John White. The by-election was noted for being uncontested due to the returning officer having declared the only other two nominations as informal.
Dwyer was unsuccessful in his bid for re-election at the following election on 28 January 1914, and was succeeded by John Lynch.
References
Compiled and researched by Andrew Beveridge, 2024
‘Mr Daniel Francis DWYER (1871 – 1942)’, Former Members, Parliament of New South Wales, https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/members/Pages/profiles/dwyer_daniel-francis.aspx
‘Mr. D. F. Dwyer’, The Daily Telegraph, 26 January 1917, p. 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239229161
‘Labor League Notes’, The Worker, 3 November 1910, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145735993
‘Labor League Notes’, The Worker, 24 July 1913, p. 23, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145716442
‘Paddington Council Vacancy. Only One Formal Nomination’, Evening News, 2 August 1913, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114780930
‘The Polling. Municipal Elections. Apathetic Electors’, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 February 1914, p. 10, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15473283
Green, Antony, ‘1913 Woollahra’, New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007, Parliament of New South Wales, https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/electionresults18562007/1913/Woollahra.htm
‘Labor’s Candidates’, The Australian Worker, 11 March 1920, p. 5, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146176897
Green, Antony, ‘1920 Eastern Suburbs’, New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007, Parliament of New South Wales, https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/electionresults18562007/1920/EasternSuburbs.htm
‘Vacant Seats. Caucus Secret Ballot. Early Decision Expected’, The Daily Telegraph, 11 October 1920, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239766867
‘Vacant Seats. Party Representation Maintained. Caucus Decision’, Sydney Morning Herald, 14 October 1920, p. 9, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16870495
‘New Members. Assembly Vacancies Filled. Urgent Measures’, The Daily Telegraph, 16 December 1920, p. 5, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239764089
Green, Antony, ‘Eastern Suburbs By-Election’, New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007, Parliament of New South Wales, https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/electionresults18562007/1920/EasternSuburbs_1.htm
‘Merely Personal’, The Australian Worker, 15 March 1922, p. 7, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149526611
‘Politics and Politicians. Gossip. Frank Dwyer for Eastern Suburbs’, The Catholic Press, 16 March 1922, p. 25, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article106394503
Green, Antony, ‘1922 Eastern Suburbs’, New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007, Parliament of New South Wales, https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/electionresults18562007/1922/EasternSuburbs.htm