21 Facts About Hugh Mahon

Hugh Mahon was a member of the Australian Labor Party and held ministerial office in the party's earliest governments.

Hugh Mahon served terms as Postmaster-General, Minister for Home Affairs, and Minister for External Affairs.

However, Mahon is chiefly known as the only person to be expelled from the Parliament of Australia, for making "seditious and disloyal utterances" about the British Empire.

Hugh Mahon failed to win his seat back at the by-election.

Hugh Mahon was born at Killurin, near Tullamore and migrated in 1869 with his family to Canada and the United States, where he learned the printing trade.

Hugh Mahon returned to Ireland in about 1880 and worked as editor of the New Ross Standard, reporting on the infamous Shanbogh killing as well as helping to organise the defence of the two accused.

Hugh Mahon was actively involved in the boycotting campaign of the Irish National Land League and was jailed in 1881 along with other Irish National Land League leaders, including Charles Stewart Parnell, but was released due to ill-health.

Hugh Mahon emigrated to Australia in 1882 to avoid re-arrest and helped to organise the Australian tour of the Irish nationalist leaders John and William Redmond in 1883.

Hugh Mahon then worked for newspapers in Goulburn and Sydney, before acquiring a newspaper in Gosford.

In 1897 Hugh Mahon stood unsuccessfully for the state seat of North Coolgardie, and the following year he was appointed editor of the Kalgoorlie Sun, a salacious newspaper similar to John Norton's Truth, in which he regularly denounced the Forrest government for alleged corrupt practices.

Hugh Mahon advocated a humanitarian approach to colonial governance, calling for a royal commission into the treatment of Aboriginal people in WA and for an amendment to the Constitution to give the federal parliament power to pass laws relating to Aboriginal people in the states, an amendment not realised until the 1967 referendum.

In 1905 Hugh Mahon helped shepherd through both houses of parliament resolutions in support of Irish home rule.

Hugh Mahon re-entered Parliament in the seat of Kalgoorlie; following the death of the incumbent, Charlie Frazer, a by-election was called, but at the close of nominations on 22 December 1913 Mahon was the sole candidate and was declared elected unopposed.

Hugh Mahon kept a low profile during the referendum debate, but in the last week of campaigning, an article claiming that he supported a Yes vote forced him to clarify his position.

At the 'khaki election' in 1917 Hugh Mahon lost his seat, but he won it back in 1919.

Hugh Mahon failed to win back his seat at the December 1920 Kalgoorlie by-election, suffering a 3.5 percent swing.

In 2016, Labor MP Graham Perrett moved a private member's motion in Parliament to recognise that Hugh Mahon's expulsion was unjust and a misuse of power then invested by the House.

Hugh Mahon's expulsion is often referred to in the media when a member of parliament misbehaves and calls are made to expel that person.

On returning to Australia in June 1922, Hugh Mahon expected to be appointed Consul General for Ireland, but the Civil War put an end to that.

Hugh Mahon died on 28 August 1931, and is buried in Box Hill Cemetery.

Hugh Mahon was survived by his wife and four children.