Bertie Johnston

Edward Bertram Johnston (11 January 1880 – 6 September 1942), known as Bertie Johnston, was the Western Australian Legislative Assembly member for Williams-Narrogin from 1911 to 1928, and a Senator from 1929 until 1942. His resignation from the Australian Labor Party in 1915 made possible the defeat of John Scaddan's Labor government in Western Australia.

Early life Johnston was born in Geraldton, Western Australia on 11 January 1880, the son of Harry Johnston, Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was educated at High School (now Hale School) in Perth, and from 1895 to 1909 was employed as a clerk in the Lands and Surveys Department. He later became a wheat and sheep farmer near Narrogin, and a substantial investor in hotels and real estate.

State politics Johnston joined the Australian Labor Party, and on 3 October 1911 was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Williams-Narrogin. In his first term he largely supported John Scaddan's Labor government, but after being re-elected in 1914 he became an outspoken backbench critic of the government, and voted against it on a number of occasions. Johnston was the only Labor member for a farming seat after 1914, and he was greatly angered by Scaddan's failure to honour a promise to lower the price of crown land.

Johnston won his seat as a Country Party candidate in the election of September 1917, and would hold it for the Country Party until 1928. From 1923 until 1928, he was Deputy Leader of the Country Party.

Federal politics

Johnston resigned his Legislative Assembly seat on 3 October 1928, and on 17 November was elected to the Australian Senate for the federal Country Party. He took up his seat in the Senate on 1 July 1929, and remained a senator until his death in 1942.

Personal life On 18 February 1931, Johnston married Hildelith Olymphe King-Lethbridge. He fathered three daughters, one of whom married David Wordsworth, a future member of the Western Australian Legislative Council. Johnston owned a number of hotels in the Perth metropolitan area (including the Captain Stirling Hotel), as well as significant investments in rural Western Australia.

On 6 September 1942, he drowned at Black Rock, Melbourne, Victoria.