Bertie Johnston

Edward Bertram Johnston (11 January 1880 – 6 September 1942), known as Bertie Johnston, was the Western Australian Legislative Assembly member for Williams-Narrogin from 1911 to 1928, and a Senator from 1929 until 1942. His resignation from the Australian Labor Party in 1915 made possible the defeat of John Scaddan's Labor government in Western Australia. Bertie Johnston was born in Geraldton, Western Australia on 11 January 1880, the son of Harry Johnston, Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was educated at High School (now Hale School) in Perth, and from 1895 to 1909 was employed as a clerk in the Lands and Surveys Department. He later became a wheat and sheep farmer near Narrogin, and a substantial investor in hotels and real estate. Johnston joined the Australian Labor Party, and on 3 October 1911 was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Williams-Narrogin. In his first term he largely supported John Scaddan's Labor government, but after being re-elected in 1914 he became an outspoken backbench critic of the government, and voted against it on a number of occasions. Johnston was the only Labor member for a farming seat after 1914, and he was greatly angered by Scaddan's failure to honour a promise to lower the price of crown land. Late in 1914, the Scaddan government faced a no-confidence vote over its handling of the Nevanas affair. Johnston and the government's other main backbench critics, Edward Heitmann and George Taylor, were convinced not to bring down the government by the promise of a leadership spill. They voted with the government, and the government won by a single vote. However, the caucus subsequently voted to confirm the existing ministry. In protest, Johnston resigned from the Labor party and from parliament on 18 December 1915. He then contested the resulting by-election as an independent, and won. This left the government with just 24 seats in a house of 50. Scaddan's minority government was permitted to continue