William Dickson (Australian politician)

Dickson was born at Widnes in Lancashire to alkali labourer Edward Dickson and Bertha Stancliffe. He migrated to Australia in 1913 and worked as an accountant for a mine in Broken Hill. He lost his job after opposing conscription during World War I, and worked as a labourer and then as manager of the Barrier Daily Truth. On 22 October 1922 he married Alice Celia Cogan, with whom he had five children.[1]

He then moved to Sydney, and from 1925 to 1934 was a Labor member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Involved in Bob Heffron's Industrial Labor Party, he soon returned to the ALP and was general secretary from 1940 to 1941 and campaign director from 1940 to 1952. He returned to the Legislative Council in 1940, where he would remain until his death. He was an assistant minister from 1941 to 1948, and from 1948 to 1949 was Minister for Building Materials. In 1949 he was appointed Secretary for Mines in addition to his previous portfolio, and in 1950 his title was Minister for Secondary Industries. In 1952 he was elected President of the Council. He retained the presidency until his death at Vaucluse in 1966.[1]