Daniel Giles "Dan" Sullivan (18 July 1882 – 8 April 1947) was a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

, Cabinet Minister and Mayor of Christchurch

Mayor of Christchurch

The Mayor of Christchurch is the head of the municipal government of Christchurch, New Zealand, and presides over the Christchurch City Council. The mayor is directly elected using a First Past the Post electoral system...

.

Early years

Born in Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

 in 1882, Sullivan was President/Secretary of the Canterbury French Polishers Union and National Federation of Furniture Trades Unions.

He was a member of the Christchurch City Council

Christchurch City Council

The Christchurch City Council is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since 2007, the Mayor of Christchurch is Bob Parker, who stood as an independent candidate...

 between 1915–23 and 1925–31, and Mayor of Christchurch

Mayor of Christchurch

The Mayor of Christchurch is the head of the municipal government of Christchurch, New Zealand, and presides over the Christchurch City Council. The mayor is directly elected using a First Past the Post electoral system...

 1931-36.

Member of Parliament

Dan Sullivan represented the Avon

Avon (New Zealand electorate)

Avon is a former New Zealand Parliamentary electorate.-Population centres:The electorate is in the eastern suburbs of Christchurch, New Zealand, based on the suburb of Avonside.-History:...

 Electorate in the New Zealand House of Representatives

New Zealand House of Representatives

The New Zealand House of Representatives is the sole chamber of the legislature of New Zealand. The House and the Queen of New Zealand form the New Zealand Parliament....

 for 28 years from 1919 to 1947. During the 1920s Sullivan and Jimmy McCombs

James McCombs

James McCombs was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for Lyttelton.-Early years:McCombs was born in County Leitrim, Ireland and came to New Zealand with his parents in 1876 as a three year old. He was educated at Sydenham School and Christchurch East School...

 led the opposition to Harry Holland within the Parliamentary Labour Party caucus.

Sullivan was a significant Cabinet Minister in the First Labour Government of New Zealand

First Labour Government of New Zealand

The First Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 1935 to 1949. It set the tone of New Zealand's economic and welfare policies until the 1980s, establishing a welfare state, a system of Keynesian economic management, and high levels of state intervention...

: the Minister of Industries and Commerce between 1935–47, Minister of Railways

Minister of Railways (New Zealand)

The Minister of Railways was the minister in the government responsible for the New Zealand Railways Department 1895–1981, the New Zealand Railways Corporation 1981–1993, and New Zealand Rail Limited 1990–1993...

 from 1935 to 1941 and the high profile wartime Minister of Supply and Munitions. He was also Acting Prime Minister

Prime Minister of New Zealand

The Prime Minister of New Zealand is New Zealand's head of government consequent on being the leader of the party or coalition with majority support in the Parliament of New Zealand...

 from April to July 1944.

Death and commemoration

Sullivan died on 8 April 1947. Sullivan Avenue in the Christchurch suburb of Woolston

Woolston, New Zealand

Woolston is a light industrial and residential suburb of Christchurch in the South Island of New Zealand. It is situated three kilometres southeast of the city centre, close to major arterial routes including State Highways 73 and 74 to Banks Peninsula...

 was named in Sullivan's honour in 1929.

Further reading

• From the Cradle to the Grave: a biography of Michael Joseph Savage by Barry Gustafson
  Barry Gustafson
  Barry Gustafson is a New Zealand political scientist and historian, and a leading political biographer. He served for nearly four decades as Professor of Political Studies at the University of Auckland, and as Acting Director of the New Zealand Asia Institute from 2004 to 2006.-Politics and...
  
   (1986, Reed Methuen, Auckland) ISBN 0474001385 (page 298 of Biographical Appendix)
• Labour's Path to Political Independence: the Origins and Establishment of the NZLP: 1900-19 by Barry Gustafson (1980, Oxford University Press, Auckland)

External links

• The Hon. D. G. Sullivan, a 1936 biographical article from the New Zealand Railways Magazine
• http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-HydParl-t1-g1-t27.htmlRobin Hyde
  Robin Hyde
  Robin Hyde is one of New Zealand's major poets. She was born Iris Guiver Wilkinson in Cape Town, South Africa and taken to Wellington, New Zealand before her first birthday. She had her secondary education at Wellington Girls' College where she wrote poetry and short stories for the school...
  
   on Mr Sullivan and others in Parliament in 1925]