Joe Collings
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The Hon Joe Collings |
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| Senator for Queensland | |
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In office 1 July 1932 – 30 June 1950 |
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| Member of the Queensland Legislative Council | |
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In office 19 February 1920 – 23 March 1922 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Joseph Silver Collings 11 May 1865 Brighton, England |
| Died | 20 June 1955 (aged 90) Brighton, Queensland |
| Nationality | English Australian |
| Political party | Australian Labor Party |
| Spouse(s) | Kate McInerney (m. 1886 d. 1917) |
| Occupation | Trade union official |
Joseph Silver "Joe" Collings (11 May 1865 – 20 June 1955) was a long-serving Australian politician. He was a hardworking Australian Labor Party bureaucrat with valuable writing and speaking talents, who was eventually rewarded by a five-year stint as a federal government minister.
Collings was born in Brighton, England and educated at Brighton Board School and by his parents. He reported for the Sussex Daily News before emigrating with his parents to Brisbane when he was 18. He worked as a farm labourer, failed as a selector and, in 1885, married Kate McInerney. He found work in the footwear industry and was at one time secretary of the Queensland Boot and Shoe Manufacturers' Association. He worked with "scabs" during a strike in 1895 and was ostracised by the Australian Boot Trade Employees' Federation although he worked hard for the labour movement. His support for the 1912 Brisbane general strike led to him being forgiven by the unions and he subsequently established the Federated Clerks' Union in Queensland.
Collings unsuccessfully contested elections to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland in 1908, 1909, and 1915, but was elected to Balmoral Shire Council from 1910 to 1913. He attended Labor Party conventions from 1905 and was elected to the Queensland central executive of the party between 1913 and 1928. From 1914 to 1915 and 1919 to 1931 he was an organiser for the party. In 1916 he campaigned vigorously against conscription in Queensland and Victoria. He was appointed to the Queensland Legislative Council in 1920 and took part in the successful vote to abolish it in 1922. In 1931 he was organising secretary for the provisional state executive set up by the federal party to replace the expelled Lang Labor executive.
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