Joe Collings

Joseph Silver Collings (11 May 1865 – 20 June 1955) was an Australian trade unionist and politician. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and served as a Senator for Queensland from 1932 to 1950. He was a cabinet minister in the Curtin and Chifley governments from 1941 to 1946.

Early life Collings was born on 11 May 1865 in Brighton, England. He was the son of Mary Ann (née Dyke) and Joseph Silver Collings. His parents were both religious non-conformists, with his father being a Freethinker and his mother being a Quaker.

Early political involvement Collings unsuccessfully contested elections to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland in 1908, 1909, and 1915, but was elected to Balmoral Shire Council from 1910 to 1913. He attended Labor Party conventions from 1905 and was elected to the Queensland central executive of the party between 1913 and 1928. From 1914 to 1915 and 1919 to 1931 he was an organiser for the party. In 1916 he campaigned vigorously against conscription in Queensland and Victoria. He was appointed to the Queensland Legislative Council in 1920 and took part in the successful vote to abolish it in 1922. In 1931 he was organising secretary for the provisional state executive set up by the federal party to replace the expelled Lang Labor executive. He was 67 years old at the time he took his seat, Along with Gordon Brown, Collings was joint Father of the Senate from 1947 to 1950. Collings, at 85 years of age, remains the oldest person to have served in the Senate.

Later life In 1886, Collings married Kate McInerney, with whom he had four children. His wife died of meningitis in 1917.

Collings died on 20 June 1955 at his home in Brighton, Queensland, survived by one son and one daughter of his six children. He was accorded a state funeral and cremated.