King O'Malley (2 July 1858 not confirmed – 20 December 1953) was an American-born Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1901 to 1917, and served two terms as Minister for Home Affairs (1910–1913; 1915–16). He is remembered for his role in the development of the national capital Canberra as well as his advocacy for the creation of a national bank.
O'Malley was of American origin and arrived in Australia in 1888. He worked as an insurance salesman before entering politics, in both professions making use of his knack for oratory and publicity stunts. He served a single term in the South Australian House of Assembly (1896–1899), before moving to Tasmania and winning election to the House of Representatives at the inaugural 1901 federal election. O'Malley was a political radical, and joined the Labor Party (ALP) upon its creation, despite his status as one of the wealthiest members of parliament. He was a keen proponent of banking reform, especially the creation of a national bank, and successfully lobbied for its inclusion in the Labor platform. He was dissatisfied with the initial form of the Commonwealth Bank, but later proclaimed himself as its "father". However, the amount of credit he deserves for its creation has been debated.
After Labor won the 1910 federal election, O'Malley was elected to cabinet by the Labor caucus, over the objections of Prime Minister Andrew Fisher. As home affairs minister, he oversaw the start of construction of the Trans-Australian Railway and the early development of the new national capital, including the design competition won by Walter Burley Griffin. A temperance advocate, he banned the sale of alcohol in the Australian Capital Territory. O'Malley's second term as home affairs minister was troublesome, marked by conflict with Prime Minister Billy Hughes, among others. O'Malley remained loyal to the ALP during the 1916 party split, but lost his seat at the 1917 election.
O'Malley spent his retirement defending his legacy. His political views combined with his personal background and personality traits made him a controversial figure during his career, and his life has continued to attract public interest. On his death, he was the last surviving member of the first Australian federal parliament.
Early life Birth and parentage Uncertainty exists about the details of O'Malley's birth and upbringing, largely due to the inconsistent accounts he provided throughout his life. He was probably born on 2 July 1858 in the U.S. Territory of Kansas. Numerous sources during his lifetime recorded his year of birth as 1858 but, after about 1940, he began to exaggerate his age, claiming a birth year of 1854. At some point, he also began to celebrate his birthday on 4 July, coinciding with Independence Day in the United States. His private diaries record that, until 1947, he personally celebrated his birthday on 2 July, but then apparently shifted the date by two days to emphasize his American origins. As a result, O'Malley's obituaries listed his date of birth as 4 July 1854.
During his political career, O'Malley claimed to have been born in Quebec, at a location called "Stanford Farm", close to the U.S. border. He said that no birth certificate existed, because the registration of births was not yet standard in frontier regions. That account of his birth differed from those he related at other periods of his life. In an 1893 letter to the editor of the Adelaide Advertiser, he proclaimed himself "a humble sovereign citizen of that supreme nation, the United States". Towards the end of his life he wrote, "I am an American [...] that is the truth". O’Malley's place of birth had implications for his status as a member of parliament. If he was born in Canada, as he claimed, he was a British subject and faced no eligibility restrictions. If he was born in the United States, his election to federal parliament was in violation of section 44(i) of the constitution. Similar provisions applied in South Australia and Tasmania, where he also ran for parliament. O'Malley's claim of Canadian birth was received with scepticism during his lifetime, and has generally been regarded as unreliable. Although he was unable to provide any proof beyond a sworn affidavit, political opponents were also unable to prove conclusively that he was born an American.
On his 1910 marriage certificate, O'Malley listed his parents as Ellen (née King) and William O'Malley, and his father's occupation as rancher. His unusual given name was supposedly taken from his mother's family name, a common practice in the United States. His parents’ identities have not been corroborated, and other information that he gave on the certificate was of dubious accuracy. In 1913, O'Malley stated that his father was born in Ballymena, in the north of Ireland. The following year, he said that his parents were British subjects born in the United Kingdom, which included Ireland at the time. However, in old age he referred to his "American-born parents". O'Malley claimed to have a brother and sister, and apparently stayed with his brother Walter in the small community of Kelly, Kansas, when he returned to the U.S. in 1917.
Childhood O'Malley grew up in Kansas, possibly in Pawnee County. O'Malley probably had little formal education, and his writing was "usually deficient in style, grammar and spelling". According to O'Malley's own account, his father was killed in the American Civil War when he was a young boy and he was sent to live with his aunt and uncle, Edward and Caroline O'Malley, in New York City, where his uncle ran a small bank near Wall Street. O'Malley began working at the bank at the age of 14. He was promoted to teller at 16 and was handling loans by 19. After a disagreement with his uncle, he left the bank at the age of 22 and took a job selling insurance. regards the basic facts of O'Malley's account to be accurate, because he had a detailed knowledge of American banking practices and of New York City. However, he expresses doubt over the details. describes it as "at least partially true", although she notes "there is no evidence to suggest that he ever lived in New York".
Adult life in the United States Before he moved to Australia, O'Malley lived a transient lifestyle on the west coast of the United States, as an insurance salesman and real estate agent. There are contemporary references to him in California, Oregon, and Washington Territory, as well as in his presumptive home state of Kansas. At various times, O'Malley sold policies for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, the Home Life Insurance Company of New York, and the Equitable Life Insurance Company. In April 1887, the Chicago Inter Ocean reported that he had forwarded policies amounting to $200,000 from Oregon, an immense sum at the time. He may have also made money engaging in land speculation, because he was wealthy enough to invest in property in Seattle, which he retained for several decades. Surviving records indicate that he had "somewhat dubious" business practices – in 1887, he made a series of large deposits at a bank in Corvallis, Oregon, then abruptly withdrew his entire account.
As a young man, O'Malley became a devotee of the Temperance movement. In 1881, his apparent home state of Kansas became one of the first to enact statewide prohibition. He gave fiery public speeches in the towns where he sold insurance, warning against the dangers of what he called "stagger juice". O'Malley supported the pro-temperance Republican Party and, in 1884, stumped for the unsuccessful campaign by James Blaine to become the Republican presidential candidate. O'Malley later claimed that, if Blaine had been elected president, he would have been appointed ambassador to Chile.
While in Texas, O'Malley founded a church, taking the title of "First Bishop of the Waterlily Rock Bound Church, the Red Skin Temple of the Cayuse Nation", in order to take advantage of a government land grant then being offered to churches. In 1881, O'Malley married Rosy Wilmot, who died from tuberculosis shortly before she was due to give birth in 1886. O'Malley claimed he had contracted the disease from her, and in 1888, having been given six months to live, he sailed for Queensland, Australia.
Move to Australia
In April 1888, the Oregon City Courier published an article entitled "King O’Malley Exposed". The newspaper reported that O'Malley and a partner had "placed policies to the amount of tens of thousands of dollars by misrepresentation", and that the Home Life Insurance Company was actively warning customers not to take any money from him. O'Malley left for Australia a few months later, arriving in Sydney in late July 1888. He travelled from San Francisco, via Hawaii, aboard the SS Mariposa. He then went south to attend the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition, and his photograph appears in the exhibition's official albums, in which he is listed as a representative of an American glass manufacturer.
O'Malley's own version of his arrival in Australia was that he moved there for health reasons, because he was suffering from tuberculosis. He supposedly arrived in the country at Port Alma, Queensland, then took up residence in a cave at Emu Park, where an Aboriginal man named Coowonga nursed him back to health. He subsequently walked overland to Sydney and Melbourne before eventually reaching Adelaide. Of that account, states: "whatever its merits as a story, it has absolutely none as a statement of fact", and that O'Malley fabricated a dramatic arrival story to hide the fact that he left the United States to escape embezzlement allegations. Documentary evidence places him in Sydney and Melbourne in 1888, so it would have required a rapid recovery from tuberculosis, followed by a walking journey of hundreds of kilometres, all within a time span of several months.
South Australia
By May 1893, O'Malley was living in Adelaide, South Australia. During that year's banking crisis, the South Australian Register published a number of letters from him on financial matters. He continued to sell life insurance, excelling at self-promotion. In April 1894, as a publicity stunt, he announced his candidacy for a by-election in the seat of East Torrens, but never formally nominated.
In January 1896, the Register reported that O'Malley would be a candidate for the seat of Encounter Bay at the upcoming general election. Encounter Bay was a rural seat electing two MPs to the House of Assembly. Although not a resident of the electorate, O'Malley was "apparently a frequent visitor to the area [...] popular with various people in Goolwa and Victor Harbor". He stood as an independent, surprising observers by topping the poll ahead of William Carpenter of the United Labor Party (ULP), sitting MP Henry Downer of the Australasian National League, and former MP Charles Hussey. O'Malley enjoyed strong support among the newly enfranchised female voters, who were sympathetic to his pro-temperance views.