Martin Hannah
{{short description|Australian politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}}
{{Use Australian English|date=June 2015}}Martin Hannah (28 February 1865 – 27 March 1953) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1902 to 1906 (for Railway Officers) and from 1908 to 1921 (for Collingwood). He was a member of the Australian Labor Party for most of his career; he was briefly expelled for several months in 1910 and then permanently expelled in 1920 after losing preselection and recontesting as an independent candidate, sitting as an independent for the remainder of his career.
Early life and union movement
Hannah was born in Whroo, Victoria. He left school aged eleven and worked in a cordial factory, then as an alluvial miner and contractor near Murchison. He moved to Melbourne at sixteen, initially working as a bread carter before entering the bricklaying trade. He held a number of prominent positions in the labour movement, including secretary of the Victorian Operative Bricklayers Society, president of the Melbourne Trades Hall Council, inaugural president of the Political Labour Council, secretary of the Vigilance Committee of Building Trades and president and secretary of the May Day Celebration Committee. He was also an enthusiastic supporter of women's suffrage organisations. Hannah was the unsuccessful Labor candidate for Bourke at the 1901 and 1903 federal elections.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201773093 |title=MARTIN HANNAH. |newspaper=The Tocsin |volume=VII |issue=354 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=23 June 1904 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article202346008 |title=THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS. |newspaper=Ovens and Murray Advertiser |issue=7837 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=6 April 1901 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57959691 |title=HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. |newspaper=Kilmore Free Press |issue=1945 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=24 December 1903 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article144631840 |title=SHE'S COMING, SURE ENOUGH! |newspaper=Prahran Telegraph |volume=XXXIII |issue=571 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=22 September 1894 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Around 1886 he married Elizabeth Ann May, with whom he had four children. She died on 19 January 1918. He then married Jane Elizabeth Satchell in 1920.{{cite web | url=https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/about/people-in-parliament/re-member/details/24/1266 | title=Martin Hannah | publisher=Parliament of Victoria | work=re-member | accessdate=10 December 2022}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article241729092 |title=OBITUARY |newspaper=The Evening Echo |volume= |issue=7381 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=19 January 1918 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65336234 |title=Personal |newspaper=Gippsland Times |issue=6,843 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=12 July 1920 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Political career
In 1902, he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the Labor member for Railway Officers. The Railway Officers seat was abolished in 1906, and Hannah unsuccessfully contested Prahran. However, he returned to parliament when he won the Collingwood seat in 1908.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205722281 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Age |issue=30,549 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=28 March 1953 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}
In August 1910, he was expelled from the Labor Party for co-founding the Commonwealth Protectionist Association, but after continuing opposition to the expulsion from various branches was readmitted following a special state conference to deal with the issue in November 1910.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91306612 |title=VICTORIAN LABOUR PARTY |newspaper=Kalgoorlie Miner |volume=16 |issue=4644 |location=Western Australia |date=19 August 1910 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145736088 |title=VICTORIA STRONG FOR SOLIDARITY |newspaper=The Worker |volume=19 |issue=44 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=3 November 1910 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=15 |via=National Library of Australia}}
He was minister without portfolio in the first Labor government in Victoria, the two-week Elmslie government of December 1913.
In June 1920, Hannah lost preselection to recontest Collingwood at the 1920 election to T. A. McAllen, state vice-president of the Victorian Liquor Trades Association.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1711540 |title=LABOUR PRE-SELECTION. |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=23,047 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=15 June 1920 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145895160 |title=VICTORIAN LABOR ITEMS. |newspaper=The Worker |volume=19 |issue=10 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=10 March 1910 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} Hannah contested the election as an independent, resulting in his expulsion from the party, and defeated McAllen.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4577870 |title=COLLINGWOOD. |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=23,151 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=14 October 1920 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4575971 |title=STATE ELECTIONS |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=23,159 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=23 October 1920 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=21 |via=National Library of Australia}} He attempted to win a second term as an independent at the 1921 election, but was soundly defeated by Labor candidate and future party leader Tom Tunnecliffe.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93255404 |title=VICTORIAN ELECTIONS |newspaper=Kalgoorlie Miner |volume=27 |issue=6937 |location=Western Australia |date=31 August 1921 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}
He made two unsuccessful attempts to return to parliament, both times as an independent: at the 1922 federal election for the seat of Batman and at a 1928 state by-election for Brighton, losing his deposit on the latter occasion.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243990784 |title=MR. HANNAH'S LONG EXPERIENCE |newspaper=The Herald |issue=15,886 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=18 April 1928 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158011511 |title=Olla Podrida. |newspaper=The Scone Advocate |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=25 May 1928 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243707761 |title=CITY ELECTORATES |newspaper=The Herald |issue=15,110 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=23 October 1925 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Later life
In later years, Hannah was often described as an expert on forestry and the uses of Australian wood. He frequently undertook lecture tours on the subject of promoting and developing the Australian forestry industry (including a visit to the United States in 1926) and would often handmake gifts for prominent figures from Australian wood to promote its use, with recipients including Douglas MacArthur.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article250641124 |title=NEWS FROM HOME |newspaper=Guinea Gold |volume=2 |issue=162 |location=International, Australia |date=28 April 1944 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=2 (SOUTHERN EDITION AUSTRALIAN) |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article265021115 |title=GIFT TO GENERAL MacARTHUR |newspaper=Saturday Evening Express |volume=15 |issue=28 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=7 August 1943 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232397449 |title=BOOMING OUR TIMBERS |newspaper=Geelong Advertiser |volume= |issue=25232 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=2 May 1928 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64264486 |title=COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT |newspaper=Portland Guardian |volume=LXXXV |issue=9860 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=26 January 1928 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=6 (EVENING) |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243702501 |title=OUR VALUABLE TIMBERS |newspaper=The Herald |issue=15,383 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=7 September 1926 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}} In 1930, he arranged an exhibition of Australian timber at Australia House in London during the Imperial Conference.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242810040 |title=TIMBER EXHIBITION FOR LONDON |newspaper=The Herald |issue=16,595 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=24 July 1930 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=24 |via=National Library of Australia}} In 1935, he organised the Australian Art and Commerce Exhibition in Melbourne to promote the commercial uses of Australian timbers. Following the exhibition, he was fined nine pounds after relocating a "bark hut" from the exhibition to Little Collins Street to serve as an unauthorised one-man continuation of the effort.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243065394 |title=OUR TIMBER PRAISED |newspaper=The Herald |issue=17,919 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=19 October 1934 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243061401 |title="BARK HUT" OPENED IN CITY |newspaper=The Herald |issue=17,925 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=26 October 1934 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=23 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article249177701 |title=HE BOILED BILLY IN CITY STREET |newspaper=The Herald |issue=23,662 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=27 March 1953 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}} He was chairman of the Youth Unemployment Council in 1935, and in 1935–36, campaigned for a scheme of unemployment relief that would retrain unemployed youth in an expanded forestry industry.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244776473 |title=WORK FOR YOUTHS |newspaper=The Herald |issue=18,278 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=14 December 1935 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248557489 |title=TO TRAIN YOUTHS |newspaper=The Herald |issue=18,532 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=7 October 1936 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244771520 |title=FORESTRY JOBS FOR YOUTHS |newspaper=The Herald |issue=18,276 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=12 December 1935 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244781558 |title=PLAN TO COPE WITH RED RAIN AND WORK LESS |newspaper=The Herald |issue=18,281 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=18 December 1935 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Hannah also remained politically active until his death. In 1931, Hannah was the honorary secretary of the Anti-Sweating League.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242766090 |title=In Town and Out |newspaper=The Herald |issue=17,007 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=19 November 1931 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} In 1944, Hannah succeeded Maurice Blackburn as president of the No-Conscription Campaign. In 1949, as spokesperson for group United Protestant Action, Hannah protested a state amendment that would have defined obscenity to include material seen as blasphemous, opposing the bill on the basis that it was an attack on freedom of speech.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27577059 |title=ANTI-BIGOTRY BILL OUT |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=34,890 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=18 October 1949 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} In 1950, Hannah proposed a scheme to resettle 500,000 Scottish migrants in east Gippsland.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225452701 |title=TO SETTLE SCOTS IN GIPPSLAND |newspaper=Weekly Times |issue=4208 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=15 February 1950 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=63 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63313748 |title=Scottish Migrants Wanted |newspaper=Gippsland Times |issue=11,703 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=31 July 1950 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63311034 |title=Macalister Street Mix-Up Sequel |newspaper=Gippsland Times |issue=11,703 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=20 February 1950 |accessdate=10 December 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Hannah died in 1953, aged 88, following a short illness and was buried at the Coburg Cemetery.