George Cann was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n miner and politician in the Parliaments of Australia

Parliament of Australia

The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, largely modelled in the Westminster tradition, but with some influences from the United States Congress...

 and New South Wales

Parliament of New South Wales

The Parliament of New South Wales, located in Parliament House on Macquarie Street, Sydney, is the main legislative body in the Australian state of New South Wales . It is a bicameral parliament elected by the people of the state in general elections. The parliament shares law making powers with...

.

Cann was born at Shankhouse, Cramlington

Cramlington

Cramlington is a town and civil parish in the county of Northumberland, North East England, situated north of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The town's name suggests a probable founding by the Danes or an Anglo-Saxon origin, the word "ton" meaning town. The population was estimated as 39,000 in...

, Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, educated at Cramlington National School and became a coalminer at eleven. He married Catherine Roberts in 1890 and they had one daughter and one son. They migrated to New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 in 1900 and Cann worked as a miner near Lithgow

Lithgow, New South Wales

Lithgow is a city in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia and is the centre of the local political division City of Lithgow. It is located in a mountain valley named Lithgow's Valley by John Oxley in honour of William Lithgow, the first Auditor-General of New South Wales.Lithgow is...

 and became involved in the Western Miners' Association. He served in the 30th Battalion of the first Australian Imperial Force

First Australian Imperial Force

The First Australian Imperial Force was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during World War I. It was formed from 15 August 1914, following Britain's declaration of war on Germany. Generally known at the time as the AIF, it is today referred to as the 1st AIF to distinguish from...

 from March 1916 until January 1918.

Political career

Cann won the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

 seat of Nepean

Division of Nepean

The Division of Nepean was an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. It was located in the western suburbs of Sydney. It originally covered the suburbs of Granville, Lithgow and Penrith...

 at the 1910 election

Australian federal election, 1910

Federal elections were held in Australia on 13 April 1910. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...

 for the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

. He was defeated at the 1913 election

Australian federal election, 1913

Federal elections were held in Australia on 31 May 1913. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister of Australia Andrew Fisher was defeated by the opposition Commonwealth Liberal...

. That year he unsuccessfully constested the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

 seat of Upper Hunter

Electoral district of Upper Hunter

Upper Hunter is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by George Souris of the National Party of Australia....

. In 1914, he won the seat of Canterbury

Electoral district of Canterbury

Canterbury is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Linda Burney of the Australian Labor Party.-History:...

 and held it to 1920, when it was absorbed in to the new multi-member seat of St George

Electoral district of St George

St George was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, originally created in 1894 with the abolition of multi-member districts, from part of Canterbury and named after the St George district...

; he was one of the members for St George until the abolition of proportional representation

Proportional representation

Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...

 in 1927. He was Secretary for Mines and Minister for Labour and Industry from April 1920 to October 1921, when he became Secretary for Mines and Minister for Local Government until the defeat of the James Dooley

James Dooley

James Dooley may refer to:* James Dooley , film score composer* James H. Dooley , Virginia lawyer* James Dooley , twice premier of New South Wales in the early 1920s...

 government in December 1921. He was not reappointed when Dooley regained power some hours later. He became Minister for Local Government and Minister for Public Health in Jack Lang

Jack Lang (Australian politician)

John Thomas Lang , usually referred to as J.T. Lang during his career, and familiarly known as "Jack" and nicknamed "The Big Fella" was an Australian politician who was Premier of New South Wales for two terms...

's first ministry in June 1925. He held the Local Government portfolio until March 1926 and Public Health until May 1927. He opposed Lang's leadership and as a result lost preselection for the 1927 election—he ran unsuccessfully as an independent.

In 1930, Cann ran unsuccessfully as a Nationalist

Nationalist Party of Australia

The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...

 for the seat of Lakemba

Electoral district of Lakemba

Lakemba is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales in Sydney's Inner West. It has been held by the Australian Labor Party since its creation in 1927...

. He died in the Sydney suburb of Strathfield

Strathfield, New South Wales

Strathfield is an Inner West suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Strathfield is located 14 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Municipality of Strathfield...

, survived by his wife.