Walter Skelton

Who was Walter Skelton?

Walter Peden Joyce Skelton MBE was an Australian politician, elected as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.

Skelton was born in Boggabri, New South Wales, ninth child of a railway fettler, educated at Boggabri Public School and brought up as a strict Protestant. In 1898 he joined New South Wales Government Railways and in October 1904 he married Annie Porter Gray and they had a son and four daughters. He became a stationmaster in 1908 and worked at Matong, Jerilderie, Boggabri, Carrathool and Cockle Creek. His wife died in 1912 and he married Alexie Muriel Stewart in 1916 and they had three daughters and three sons.

Skelton and fellow members of the New South Wales Protestant Federation reacted strongly to the alleged kidnapping of an "escaped" nun Sister Mary Liguori in Sydney in 1921 and Skelton created the Protestant Independent Labour Party. In 1922, he topped the poll for the five-member seat of Newcastle. In parliament, he campaigned for free education, prohibition by referendum and the interests of railway workers.