Julian Stuart was an Australian journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

, trade unionist, poet and politician.

Early career

John (Julian) Alexander Salmon Stuart was born in Raymond Terrace

Raymond Terrace, New South Wales

Raymond Terrace is a town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about by road north of Newcastle on the Pacific Highway. Established in 1837 it is situated at the confluence of the Hunter and Williams rivers and has about 12,600 residents. It is the administrative centre of the Port...

, 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...

 and grew up on the Clarence River. After a short-lived career as a school teacher and then as a clerk in Sydney, Stuart began to live the life of an itinerant worker, moving about rural New South Wales and Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

. As he became more aware of the poor working conditions of shearers

Sheep shearer

A sheep shearer is a worker who uses -blade or machine shears to remove wool from domestic sheep during crutching or shearing.-History:...

 and other farm workers, he began to become more and more involved with the budding trade union movement

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

. As one of the leaders of the 1891 Australian shearers' strike

1891 Australian shearers' strike

350px|thumb|Shearers' strike camp, Hughenden, central Queensland, 1891.The 1891 shearers' strike is one of Australia's earliest and most important industrial disputes. Working conditions for sheep shearers in 19th century Australia weren't good. In 1891 wool was one of Australia's largest industries...

, Stuart was jailed and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with hard labour

Penal labour

Penal labour is a form of unfree labour in which prisoners perform work, typically manual labour. The work may be light or hard, depending on the context. Forms of sentence which involve penal labour include penal servitude and imprisonment with hard labour...

. Upon release from jail, Stuart worked for the Labour Electoral League, the forerunner of the New South Wales 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...

.

Western Australia

In 1895, Stuart and his new wife moved to Coolgardie

Coolgardie, Western Australia

Coolgardie is a small town in the Australian state of Western Australia, east of the state capital, Perth. It has a population of approximately 800 people....

 with the idea of working the goldfields. Life on the goldfields was tough and in 1901, Stuart finally gave up on the idea of prospecting and moved to Kalgoorlie

Kalgoorlie, Western Australia

Kalgoorlie, known as Kalgoorlie-Boulder, is a town in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, and is located east-northeast of state capital Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway...

, where he undertook a variety of jobs, and became an active member of the Australian Workers’ Association. In 1902, he was elected to the Board of the Westralian Worker, the state’s first labor newspaper, and then as editor in 1903. By this time, he was also a regular contributor to The Bulletin

The Bulletin

The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...

. In 1906, he was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly

Western Australian Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Perth....

 as Member for Mount Leonora.

Last days

In 1919, Julian Stuart was injured in an accident at a timber mill and became an invalid. Nevertheless, he continued to write for various publications, including The Bulletin, the Brisbane Worker and the Western Mail

Western Mail (Western Australia)

The Western Mail, or Western Mail, was the name of two weekly newspapers published in Perth, Western Australia.-West Australian newspapers:...

. He died in Perth in 1929. He was survived by his wife and five children, including the writers Lyndall Hadow and Donald Stuart

Donald Stuart (novelist)

Donald Stuart was an Australian novelist whose works include stories with Aboriginal backgrounds, and a series recounting his experience as a POW in Burma in World War II.-Early career:...

.