John Joseph Cahill (21 January 189122 October 1959), also known as Joe Cahill or J. J. Cahill, was a long-serving New South Wales politician, railway worker, trade unionist and Labor Party Premier of New South Wales from 1952 to his death in 1959. Born the son of Irish migrants in Redfern, New South Wales, Cahill worked for the New South Wales Government Railways from the age of 16 before joining the Australian Labor Party. Being a prominent unionist organiser, including being dismissed for his role in the 1917 general strike, Cahill was eventually elected to the Parliament of New South Wales for St George in 1925.
After many years of backbench service, including a term outside of parliament, Cahill was eventually appointed Secretary for Public Works in 1941 and Minister for Local Government in the government of William McKell in 1944, where he led significant reforms of local government in the state, including establishing a Royal commission in 1945, and passing the landmark Local Government (Areas) Act of 1948. Promoted to Deputy Premier in 1949, Cahill became Premier of New South Wales from April 1952 to his death in October 1959. His term as premier is primarily remembered for his government's role in post-war infrastructure development, which included the commissioning of the Sydney Opera House and construction of the expressway which now bears his name.
Early years and family
Joe Cahill, as he was popularly known, was born on 21 January 1891 in the inner-Sydney suburb of Redfern, the son of Irish-born parents, Thomas Cahill, and Ellen Glynn. Cahill's father was born in County Limerick and was a NSW railways labourer at the nearby Eveleigh Railway Workshops, and his mother was the daughter of Irish immigrants from County Clare. After being educated at St Brigid's, Marrickville, and Patrician Brothers' School, Redfern, at age 16 he was apprenticed as a fitter for the New South Wales Government Railways at the Eveleigh railway workshops on 2 July 1907.
As a member of the Workers' Educational Association and the Marrickville branch of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (known from 1921 as the Amalgamated Engineering Union [AEU]), Cahill became politically active and joined the NSW Branch of the Labor Party. Like most Roman Catholics within the Labor Party he opposed conscription for the First World War in 1916, and lost his railway job on 14 August 1917 after taking part in a general strike over railway workers' pay and conditions.
Cahill also made his first attempt to enter politics as a member of the Parliament of New South Wales, when he stood as the Labor candidate for the Legislative Assembly seat of Dulwich Hill at the March 1917 election. Bearing the marks of a young radical, Cahill campaigned on big ideas like the abolition of the Legislative Council and replacing the state Governor with the Lieutenant-Governor, but his comment that "the wealth of the country should be placed in one big pool" attracted amusement in the press. Cahill was subsequently defeated on a margin of 31-68% against the sitting Nationalist Party member, Tom Hoskins.
On 17 February 1918 his younger brother who also worked in the New South Wales railways, Sapper Thomas James Cahill, of the 4th Field Company (4th Division), Australian Engineers, was killed in action in France. His father had also died in June 1916 at the age of 58 while on active service as a reservist Sergeant-Major in the Australian Garrison Artillery. After a period of difficult unemployment, Cahill found some work selling insurance amongst other temporary jobs, but was re-employed by the New South Wales Government Railways in mid-1922 at the Randwick Tramway Workshops.
On 11 November 1922, at St Brigid's Church, Marrickville, he married Esmey Mary Kelly, the daughter of public servant James Joseph Kelly, and they were to have three sons and two daughters. When their first son was born on 12 February 1924, they named him "Thomas James" after Cahill's younger brother. On 11 December 1926, another son was born, who they named John Joseph Cahill. A third son, Brian Francis Cahill, was born on 10 December 1930.
In 1922, after taking part in an unsuccessful attempt to unseat the AEU's NSW governing body through a federal council, Cahill among several others was sued by the union for "illegally holding office within the union". Although the suit was later dismissed by the Chief Judge in Equity, Philip Street, Cahill was banned from holding office in the union until 1925.