George Cann

Cann was born at Shankhouse, Cramlington, Northumberland, England, educated at Cramlington National School and became a coalminer at eleven.[1] His elder brother John Cann migrated to New South Wales in 1887.[2] Cann married Catherine Roberts in 1890 and they had one daughter and one son. They migrated to NSW in 1900 and Cann worked as a miner near Lithgow and became involved in the Western Miners' Association. He served in the 30th Battalion of the first Australian Imperial Force from March 1916 until January 1918.[1][3]

George Cann was a member of the Australian Labor Party, winning the Australian House of Representatives seat of Nepean at the 1910 election. He was defeated at the 1913 election. That year he unsuccessfully contested the NSW Legislative Assembly seat of Upper Hunter. In 1914, he won the 1914 Canterbury by-election, joining his brother John, then Colonial Secretary, in the Legislative Assembly. Cann held Canterbury at the 1917 election. In 1920 the district was abolished and absorbed into the new multi-member seat of St George; he was one of the members for St George until the abolition of proportional representation in 1927. He was Secretary for Mines and Minister for Labour and Industry from April 1920 to October 1921, when he became Secretary for Mines and Minister for Local Government until the defeat of the James Dooley government in December 1921. He was not reappointed when Dooley regained power some hours later. He became Minister for Local Government and Minister for Public Health in Jack Lang's first ministry in June 1925. He held the Local Government portfolio until March 1926 and Public Health until May 1927. He opposed Lang's leadership and as a result lost preselection for the 1927 election—he ran unsuccessfully as an independent.[1][3]

In 1930, Cann ran unsuccessfully as a Nationalist for the seat of Lakemba. He died in the Sydney suburb of Strathfield, survived by his wife.[1][3]