Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1920-1960? (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
1 box (Offsite Storage)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
William James "Jim" Riordan (20 April 1882 – 15 September 1955) was an Australian politician. He was born in Mackay to William Riordan and Mary, née Walsh. After attending Mackay State School he became a labourer on the Cairns–Mulgrave railway line and then a fireman for the Chillagoe Railway Company. While there he became President of the Chillagoe Amalgamated Workers' Union and in 1903 an organiser with the Far North Australia Workers' Union (FNAWU). On 28 March 1907 he married Annie Helen Page, with whom he had a son and two daughters. In 1916 he became state president of the FNAWU, and in 1917 was appointed to the Queensland Legislative Council for the Labor Party. Riordan served in the Council until its abolition, according to Labor policy, in 1922. In 1925 he moved from president to secretary of the FNAWU, a position he held until 1933 when he was appointed to the Queensland Industrial Court. He was also involved in the Labor press as director of The Daily Standard and The Worker, which were published in Brisbane. He served on the court until 1953, and from 1951 to 1952 was chairman of the Royal Commission on Offcourse Betting. He had remarried, to Lyla Elizabeth Boland on 2 October 1943. He died in Brisbane in 1955 and was buried in Lutwyche Cemetery.
Repository
Archival history
Collection previously titled as: Papers, 1920-1960?
Collection alternatively titled as: W.J. Riordan Collection.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Photographs, invitations, programmes, newsclippings, mainly about A.L.P; some biographical information about politicians.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Folder 1a: Queensland Labor Students’ and Speakers’ League Incoming correspondence, 1933
Folder 1b: Queensland Labor Students’ and Speakers’ League Outgoing correspondence 1933-1934
Folder 2: Member lists; financial records; minutes; speeches; programmes; pamphlets
Folder 3: Photographs, invitations and programmes.
Folders 4 –6: Newspaper cuttings 1920s to 1960s, chiefly A.L.P. matters; some biographical notices of politicians, obituaries etc.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Unrestricted access.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Alma MMS ID
Millennium Local System Number
OCLC Number
Libraries Australia ID
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Migrated
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Revised, AM, 10-Feb-2020.
Migrated from LMS: April 2019, P.A.