Alexander Poynton

Who was Alexander Poynton?

Alexander Poynton, OBE, was an inaugural member of the Australian House of Representatives.

Born in Castlemaine, Victoria to Alexander, who took part in the Eureka Stockade rebellion, and Rosanna Poynton, Poynton left school at 14 to work as a shearer, station-hand and miner, and marry Harriet Brown on 15 July 1880 in Ballarat before moving to South Australia in 1887 and settling in Port Augusta, where he founded the South Australian Shearers Union in 1888.

With his support in the labour movement, Poynton unsuccessfully stood for the South Australian House of Assembly Electoral district of Newcastle before his election to the South Australian House of Assembly Electoral district of Flinders in 1893. In parliament Poynton served as Commissioner for Crown Lands in the Vaiben Solomon ministry in 1899.

In 1901 Poynton successfully stood for the Australian House of Representatives in the inaugural federal election as a Free Trade Party member for South Australia. In 1903 he was elected as the Labor Party member for Grey, an electorate he represented until 1922.