Bill Denny (Australian politician)

William Joseph "Bill" Denny (6 December 1872 – 2 May 1946) was a South Australian lawyer, politician and decorated soldier who held the seats of West Adelaide then Adelaide for the United Labour Party (the Australian Labor Party from 1917) in the South Australian House of Assembly from 1900 to 1905 and 1906 to 1933. He was the Attorney-General of South Australia and Minister for the Northern Territory in the government led by John Verran (1910–12).

In August 1915, Denny enlisted in the First Australian Imperial Force to serve in World War I, initially as a trooper in the 9th Light Horse Regiment. After being commissioned in 1916, he served in the 5th Division Artillery and 1st Divisional Artillery on the Western Front. He was awarded the Military Cross in September 1917 when he was wounded while leading a convoy into forward areas near Ypres, and ended the war as a captain.

He was again Attorney-General in the Labor governments led by John Gunn (1924–26) and Lionel Hill (1930–33), and held a number of other portfolios in those governments, including housing, irrigation and repatriation. Denny published two memoirs of his military service, and when he died in 1946 aged 73, he was accorded a state funeral.

Early life
William Joseph Denny was born in Adelaide, South Australia on 6 December 1872. he was one of three children of Thomas Joseph Denny, a publican, and his wife Annie ( Dwyer). He attended Christian Brothers College, Adelaide, then worked as a weather clerk at the General Post Office, Adelaide until 1893. In that year he became the editor of the Catholic The Southern Cross newspaper, which published news about and for the Catholic community of South Australia. He was a councillor of the Adelaide City Council from 1898, and unsuccessfully contested the two-member seat of West Adelaide in the 1899 South Australian state election, as a United Labour Party (ULP) candidate, gaining 27.7 per cent of the vote.

When a by-election was held for West Adelaide on 17 March 1900, Denny was elected to the single vacancy created by the resignation of the former Premier of South Australia, Charles Kingston, as an independent liberal candidate, gaining 66.8 per cent of the vote. In the 1902 state election the electoral district of West Adelaide was abolished. Denny contested the new four-member electoral district of Adelaide, and was elected second in the count with 14.3 per cent of the votes cast. In 1903, he began studying law at the University of Adelaide, and was defeated at the 1905 state election, gaining only 9.9 per cent of the votes. The following year, he contested the seat of Adelaide at the state election as a ULP candidate, and was elected first, receiving 19.3 per cent of the votes cast. He was admitted as a solicitor in the Supreme Court of South Australia in 1908, and was again returned first at the 1910 state election, after which the ULP led by John Verran formed a majority government on 3 June.

Attorney-General
Denny was appointed Attorney-General of South Australia and Minister controlling the Northern Territory on 3 June 1910. After conducting negotiations with the Australian Government, he relinquished his ministerial responsibility for the Northern Territory on 31 December 1910, when responsibility for its administration was transferred to the Commonwealth. During his time as Attorney-General, Denny legislated important reforms. These included the Advances for Homes Act 1910, and in his speeches he highlighted that many workers were faced with high rents and poor conditions. It allowed for 80 per cent of the value of a property to be advanced to a worker at 4.5 per cent interest over 36.5 years. He also sponsored the Female Law Practitioners Act 1911, which enabled women to practice law in South Australia for the first time. Tall, with "long, spindly legs", Denny was a favourite of cartoonists.

Verran called an election in February 1912, and the ULP were defeated by the Liberal Union, although Denny was again returned first in the seat of Adelaide with 15.8 per cent of votes cast. He became a member of the University of Adelaide Council in April 1912, as a representative of the Parliament. He was returned unopposed at the March 1915 state election.

World War I
Denny enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 17 August 1915 at the age of 43, initially as a trooper. He was later commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 9th Light Horse Regiment. While in Egypt, he transferred to the divisional artillery of the 5th Division, and was promoted to lieutenant in June 1916. In mid-1917 he was attached to the divisional artillery of the 1st Division. On the night of 15 September 1917, he was leading a convoy carrying water to forward areas when it was hit by a heavy artillery barrage, and he was wounded. His recommendation for the Military Cross read:

"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty whilst engaged in pack transport work near HOGGE on the night of 15 September 1917. Lieutenant DENNY showed great coolness and initiative throughout, especially when his convoy came under very heavy barrage in the vicinity of CLAPHAM JUNCTION. Although wounded himself, Lieut. DENNY personally obtained assistance for two of his men who were wounded. He then reorganised his command and succeeded in reaching his destination. Lieut. DENNY after delivering this water then went to the dressing station where he dictated a report to D.H.Q. before being evacuated."

He was subsequently invested with the Military Cross by King George V at Buckingham Palace in November 1917, and after recovering from his wounds, was attached to the repatriation section of AIF Administrative Headquarters in London from January 1918. He was promoted to captain in September that year. He resigned his commission in the AIF in 1919 and published a memoir titled The Diggers, the foreword of which was written by General Sir William Birdwood, who had commanded the AIF from 1915 until the end of the war.

Return to Parliament
Still serving overseas at the time of the 1918 state election, Denny was returned first of three in Adelaide with 30.2 per cent of the ballots cast. He was repatriated to Australia via the United States of America on 2 August 1919, returning to his seat. He married Winefride Mary Leahy, a pianist and singer, on 15 January 1920 at St. Ignatius Church, Norwood. His brother, the Reverend Richard Denny, officiated at their wedding. He was elected second of two in 1921 and second of three in 1924 with a similar proportion of the vote. He was appointed Attorney-General in the Labor government of John Gunn in April 1924, and was also Minister for Housing, and initially, Assistant Minister for Repatriation. In January 1925 he was appointed as Minister for Irrigation and Minister for Repatriation, while retaining his Attorney-General and housing portfolios. During this period he carried several significant legislative changes.

As a returned soldier, Denny was an exception among Labor politicians at both state and federal level in the 1920s, and thus was one of few Labor politicians invited to unveil memorials. He performed this role for the Soldiers' Memorial Hall at Lameroo in 1926, where his "address was punctuated with applause". Despite Labor's loss in the 1927 state election, Denny was returned first of three in the seat of Adelaide, with over 25 per cent of the vote. At the April 1930 state election, he was returned first of three with nearly 82 per cent of the ballots cast. Appointed Attorney-General for the third time in the Labor government of Lionel Hill, Denny was also Minister of Railways, and for the first six months he was also Minister of Local Government. On Anzac Day 1931, acting as Premier in Hill's absence, he officiated at the unveiling of the National War Memorial at the corner of North Terrace and Kintore Avenue, Adelaide before a crowd of about 75,000. Denny is one of only a small number of South Australian ministers to have ever had military experience.

In 1931, Denny was expelled from the Labor Party, along with Hill and the rest of the cabinet, for supporting the "Premiers' Plan", which sought to impose austerity measures due to the poor economic conditions. The cabinet formed the "Parliamentary Labor Party" which continued to govern the state, led by Hill and then by Robert Richards, with the support of the opposition until the 1933 state election. At the 1933 election, Denny lost his seat to a Lang Labor Party candidate.

Later life
In September 1936, Bill's brother, the Catholic priest Reverend Denny, and his sister, Mary Catherine Denny, were involved in a vehicle accident in which Mary received fatal injuries. Reverend Denny suffered from an illness that resulted from the accident which contributed to his death in June 1941. Denny wrote a further autobiographical book, A Digger at Home and Abroad which was published in 1941. He continued to practice law until his death, despite difficulties associated with rheumatoid arthritis. He died on 2 May 1946 of a heart attack which developed at his home on Osmond Terrace, Norwood, after he returned from his office in Adelaide. He was survived by his wife, one son and three daughters. He was accorded a state funeral, and was buried at West Terrace Cemetery.

Denny was the patron of the West Adelaide Football Club for 20 years ending in 1930. He enjoyed diving for crayfish under the rocks at the back of Rosetta Head near Victor Harbor on Encounter Bay, and was often accompanied Mr. Ephriam "Brownie" Tripp, an Aboriginal man from the Point McLeay Aboriginal Mission. According to his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, "his preferred reading was Shakespeare and the Bible and he quoted liberally from both. His integrity, versatility and wide knowledge were unquestioned, and he was proud of the democratic legislation he had sponsored."