James Cunningham (Australian politician)

Cunningham was born on 28 December 1879 at Wirrabara, South Australia. He was the son of Catherine (née Herrin) and James Cunningham, At the time of his birth, his parents were illiterate, with his father working as a farmer and stonemason and his mother working as a domestic servant. Cunningham had little formal education. By 1899 Cunningham was living at Norseman. He moved to Boulder in 1905. ==State politics==

Cunningham was an unsuccessful candidate for ALP preselection prior to the 1911 state election, losing to the incumbent Labor MP George "Mulga" Taylor in the Goldfields seat of Mount Margaret. Cunningham was secretary of the Federated Miners' Union before his election to the Western Australian Legislative Council in 1916 as a Labor member. In 1922 he left the council, but in 1923 he was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly as the member for Kalgoorlie. He was an honorary minister 1924–1927 and held the portfolios of Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Goldfields and Minister for Water Supply 1927–1930. His alcoholism prevented him being reappointed to the Ministry in 1933 when Labor regained office. In 1936 the Labor Party decided to allow three candidates to stand for the seat of Kalgoorlie, after irregularities were discovered in the pre-selection ballotting process. Cunningham was soundly defeated. ==Federal politics==

Cunningham was elected to the Senate at the 1937 federal election, to a six-year term beginning on 1 July 1938. In accordance with electoral legislation at the time, he was also declared elected to the casual vacancy caused by the death of Country Party senator William Carroll, which had been filled by Thomas Marwick as an interim appointee. He therefore began his Senate term on 23 October 1937, the date of the election. He was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth, after a state funeral. ==Personal life==

In 1907, Cunningham married Alice Daly, with whom he had three surviving children. He had difficulties with alcohol throughout his parliamentary career and also suffered from silicosis from his time as a miner. ==References==