Jack Melloy

John (Jack) Melloy (10 November 19086 January 2006) was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for the Australian Labor Party. Unlike his older siblings, Jack (formally John) had no middle name, which irritated him, so he sometimes called himself John Joseph Patrick Melloy.

Jack grew up in a rented house at Kangaroo Point on the banks of the Brisbane River. His father, having sailed the seven seas (or at least one or two them) after leaving his family home in Liverpool, England at the age of 14, worked on boats sailing up and down the river. Jack was a Naval Cadet at an early age, but led the life of a landlubber in later times.

He married Elizabeth Maude Garner (b. 1910 in Charters Towers, Queensland) on 24 June 1933.

Jack Melloy died at Redcliffe (north of Brisbane) in 2006, aged 97. His wife Elizabeth had died in 1995. The couple were survived by their 7 children, 18 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.

He championed the safari suit (a short-sleeved jacket worn without a shirt designed for wear in warm climates) by wearing one in Parliament but was told to leave and jokingly derided as a bagman and a hippy.

He retired in 1977, but continued his political activities through assisting his politically active family in their campaigns. In 1980 his daughter Elaine Darling won the seat of Lilley (the one he had unsuccessfully contested twice in the 1950s). His granddaughter Vicky Darling won the state seat of Sandgate in 2006. Some other family members served in executive positions of branches of the Labor Party. In 1989 his daughter Noela Pemberton was the Labor candidate in the State electorate of Aspley being defeated by about 400 votes, after outpolling a sitting National Party State Government Minister and a Liberal Party Local Government Councillor on the primary vote. The Local Government councillor won the seat after the distribution of preferences.

In 2000 his daughters Elaine Darling and Lyn Kally became local government Councillors in Queensland - Elaine in Caloundra, and Lyn in Esk Shire.

Jack Melloy was awarded life membership of the Australian Labor Party in 1984.

At age 95, he was still handing out how-to-vote cards on election day, loyal to his party. He served his party for over 80 years.