Arthur Thomas Powell (8 August 1903 – 9 July 1970) was an Australian politician and a member of 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...

  from 1950 until 1962. He was a member 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...

 (ALP).

Powell was born in Pyrmont, New South Wales

Pyrmont, New South Wales

Pyrmont is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Pyrmont is located 2 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney...

 and was the son of a bridge builder. He was educated at Marist Brothers High School, Darlinghurst and worked as a fitter for a number of employees including the New South Wales Government Railways

New South Wales Government Railways

The New South Wales Government Railways was the government department that operated the New South Wales Government's railways until the establishment of the Public Transport Commission in 1972. Although later known officially as the Department of Railways, New South Wales, it was still generally...

. He was an official with the Amalgamated Engineering Union and became involved with community organisations including the Greyhound Racing Association and the board of Bankstown Hospital. Powell was elected as a councillor at Wyong Shire in 1962-5. He was elected to the New South Wales Parliament as the Labor member for the seat of Bankstown at the 1950

New South Wales state election, 1950

The 1950 New South Wales State state election was held on 17 June 1950. It was conducted in single member constituencies with compulsory preferential voting and was held on boundaries created at a 1949 redistribution...

 state election after the sitting Labor member and Premier James McGirr

James McGirr

James McGirr was the Labor Premier of New South Wales from 6 February 1947 to 3 April 1952.A Catholic, McGirr was the seventh son of John Patrick McGirr, farmer and Irish immigrant, and Mary McGirr, whose maiden name was O'Sullivan. Born in Parkes, New South Wales, he grew up on a dairy farm near...

 decided to stand for the new seat of Liverpool

Electoral district of Liverpool

Liverpool is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Australian state of New South Wales in Sydney's West. It is currently represented by Paul Lynch of the Australian Labor Party....

 . He retained the seat for the Labor Party at the next 3 elections and retired at the 1962

New South Wales state election, 1962

The 1962 New South Wales state election was held on 3 March 1962. It was conducted in single member constituencies with compulsory preferential voting and was held on boundaries created at a 1961 redistribution...

election . He did not hold party, parliamentary or ministerial office.