Richard Valentine Keane (14 February 1881 – 26 April 1946) 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 politician.

Keane was born in Beechworth, Victoria

Beechworth, Victoria

Beechworth is a well-preserved historical town located in the north-east of Victoria, Australia, famous for its major growth during the gold rush days of the mid-1850s...

 and, after his police constable father was transferred to Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, was educated at Christian Brothers College, St Kilda. When he was 16 he took a position as a clerk in the Victorian Railways

Victorian Railways

The Victorian Railways operated railways in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companies failed or defaulted, the Victorian Railways was established to take over their operations...

. In 1909 he married Ruby Thorne and they subsequently had a son and two daughters. From 1918 he was an office holder in the Victorian Railways Union, which became part of the Australian Railways Union

Australian Rail Tram and Bus Industry Union

The Australian Rail Tram & Bus Industry Union , formerly known as the Public Transport Union or PTU, was formed on 1 March 1993, through the amalgamation of the Australian Railways Union, the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen, the Australian Tramway & Motor Omnibus Employees'...

 (ARU) in 1920. He was General Secretary of the ARU from 1925 to 1929. His wife died in 1923 and he married Millicent Dunn in 1940.

Political career

Keane was vice-president of the executive of the Victorian branch of 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...

 in 1928 and its president in 1930 and from 1937 to 1938. In 1925

Australian federal election, 1925

Federal elections were held in Australia on 14 November 1925. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 22 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...

, he stood unsuccessfully for the Australian Senate

Australian Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

 and the Victorian Legislative Council

Victorian Legislative Council

The Victorian Legislative Council, is the upper of the two houses of the Parliament of Victoria, Australia; the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative Council serves as a house of review, in a similar fashion to...

. In the October 1929 election

Australian federal election, 1929

Federal elections were held in Australia on 12 October 1929. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election, with no Senate seats up for election, as a result of Billy Hughes and other rebel backbenchers crossing the floor over industrial relations legislation, depriving the...

, he was elected as the member for Bendigo

Division of Bendigo

The Division of Bendigo is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division was created in 1900 and was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named for the city of Bendigo...

 in 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....

, but lost it at the October 1931 election

Australian federal election, 1931

Federal elections were held in Australia on 19 December 1931. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...

. He was narrowly defeated for Bendigo at the 1934 election

Australian federal election, 1934

Federal elections were held in Australia on 15 September 1934. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent United Australia Party led by Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons with coalition partner the Country Party led...

, but was elected to the Senate at the 1937 election

Australian federal election, 1937

Federal elections were held in Australia on 23 October 1937. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...

. He became leader of the government in the Senate in 1943.

In October 1941 Keane was appointed Minister for Trade and Customs

Minister for Trade (Australia)

The Australian Minister for Trade has been Dr. Craig Emerson since 14 September 2010.-Portfolio:Currently the Minister for Trade administers the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade jointly with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, although prior to 1987 there was a separate Department of Trade...

 and Vice-President of the Executive Council

Vice-President of the Executive Council

The Vice-President of the Federal Executive Council is a position in Australian federal governments, whose holder acts as presiding officer of the Federal Executive Council in the absence of the Governor-General....

 in the first Curtin Ministry

First Curtin Ministry

The First Curtin Ministry was the thirtieth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and held office from 7 October 1941 to 21 September 1943.Australian Labor Party...

 and was responsible for administering wartime rationing and price controls. In 1946 he travelled to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 to terminate Australia's Lend-Lease

Lend-Lease

Lend-Lease was the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945. It was signed into law on March 11, 1941, a year and a half after the outbreak of war in Europe in...

 arrangements but died in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, survived by his wife, their daughter and the children of his first marriage.