Frederick Michael Daly (1912–1995), politician, was born on 13 June 1912 at Currabubula, New South Wales, ninth of eleven children of Irish-born Michael Daly, farmer and grazier, and his second wife Margaret Jane, née Howard, who was born in New South Wales. Fred’s father died in 1923, resulting in the sale of the family home and eight-thousand-acre (c. 3,200 ha) property. He moved with his mother and younger siblings from ‘security’ to ‘poverty’ at North Bondi, Sydney (Daly 1983). Educated at Currabubula and then Christian Brothers’ College, Waverley, he hated school and failed most of his examinations. He left at about age thirteen to become a messenger and later a clerk with the bicycle manufacturer Bennett & Wood Ltd. In World War II the manpower authorities directed him to clerical duties for the Department of the Navy. An observant Catholic, he became involved in the Mary Immaculate (Waverley) Literary, Debating, and Social Society. At a local dance he met Teresa Armstrong (d. 1975), a stenographer at the Commonwealth Department of the Treasury. They would marry on 4 October 1937 at Holy Cross Church, Woollahra.
Although his father had been a political conservative, Daly was drawn to Labor politics. He joined the Waverley branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the early 1930s, becoming active at branch, State electorate council, and Federal electorate council levels, and served on the management committee of the New South Wales branch of the Federated Clerks’ Union of Australia. In 1943 he gained preselection for Martin, a Federal electorate in Sydney’s west held by the United Australia Party. He won the marginal seat and retained it three years later by focusing on local community needs. To this end, he was one of the first to establish an office in his electorate to meet constituents. Following an electoral redistribution, he moved in 1949 to the new seat of Grayndler, centred on the suburbs of Newtown and Marrickville, and held it until his retirement.
In parliament, Daly was a keen student of veterans such as James Scullin, Ben Chifley, and Billy Hughes. His youth and the depth of talent in Labor’s ranks meant he had no opportunity to serve as a minister in his early years. He was a member of the joint committee on social security (1943–46) and the Rationing Commission (1946–50). He also represented the government at the 1947 International Labour Organisation’s inland transport and coal mines committee meetings in Geneva, Switzerland, earning the nickname ‘Dilly Dally Daly’ for the extended time it took for his return. He was a willing advocate for controversial Labor causes, campaigning for the 1947 Banking Act, and putting the Chifley government’s case against the 1949 coal strike.
Following Labor’s election loss in 1949, Daly became Opposition whip, was elected to the State executive, and was identified by some as a future leader. Chifley’s death in 1951 was a setback, since Daly lost his closest mentor. He also had to deal with a ‘Machiavellian’ leader in H. V. Evatt (Daly 1983). Tensions between them came to a head in caucus on 20 October 1954, when Daly voted for a spill motion against Evatt’s leadership. His vote, together with his role in the State executive’s resistance to Federal intervention against the Victorian Labor branch, saw him labelled as part of the ‘grouper’ faction.
Daly died on the 2nd August 1995 and was buried at Rookowood Catholic Cemetery.
Read lessFrederick Michael Daly (1912–1995), politician, was born on 13 June 1912 at Currabubula, New South Wales, ninth of eleven children of Irish-born Michael Daly, farmer and grazier, and his second wife Margaret Jane, née Howard, who was born in New South Wales. Fred’s father died in 1923, resulting in the sale of the family home and eight-thousand-acre (c. 3,200 ha) property. He moved with his mother and younger siblings from ‘security’ to ‘poverty’ at North Bondi, Sydney (Daly 1983). Educated at Currabubula and then Christian Brothers’ College, Waverley, he hated school and failed most of his examinations. He left at about age thirteen to become a messenger and later a clerk with the bicycle manufacturer Bennett & Wood Ltd. In World War II the manpower authorities directed him to clerical duties for the Department of the Navy. An observant Catholic, he became involved in the Mary Immaculate (Waverley) Literary, Debating, and Social Society. At a local dance he met Teresa Armstrong (d. 1975), a stenographer at the Commonwealth Department of the Treasury. They would marry on 4 October 1937 at Holy Cross Church, Woollahra.
Although his father had been a political conservative, Daly was drawn to Labor politics. He joined the Waverley branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the early 1930s, becoming active at branch, State electorate council, and Federal electorate council levels, and served on the management committee of the New South Wales ... More
