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Shadrach Livingstone James

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Shadrach Livingstone James
Born(1890-05-15)15 May 1890
Died7 August 1956(1956-08-07) (aged 66)
Geelong, Australia
Resting placeMooroopna
Parent(s)Thomas Shadrach James
Ada Bethel Cooper
RelativesDouglas Nicholls (cousin)
William Cooper (brother-in-law)

Shadrach Livingstone James (15 May 1890 – 7 August 1956) was a teacher, unionist and Aboriginal Australian activist.

Early life and education

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James was born in 1890, the eldest son of Thomas Shadrach James[1] and Ada Bethel Cooper at the Cummeragunja Aboriginal Reserve in New South Wales. His father was a Mauritian-born teacher and his mother a member of the Yorta Yorta people.[2]

In 1909 James married Maggie Campbell in Echuca. The couple had seven children, three sons and four daughters.[2]

James was educated in the mission school run by his father and eventually became qualified as a teaching assistant. After worked with his father it was assumed that he would be appointed his successor as head teacher; however, the New South Wales government declined to appoint him to the position.[2]

Working life

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In 1928 James and his family moved to Mooroopna where he worked for Ardmona Fruit Products Co-operative. He was elected as secretary of the local branch of the Food Preservers' Union and was for a time vice-president of the Goulburn district council.[2]

Activism

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Between 1928[2](or 1933?) and 1955 was honorary secretary of the Australian Aborigines' League, which he helped to establish in Melbourne in 1933, along with his brother-in-law William Cooper and others.[3][a] In this role he was active in lobbying government to improve living conditions for Aboriginal people.[2]

James faced bureaucratic opposition due to his mixed-race heritage.[2]

Death and legacy

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James died in 1956 of a heart attack in Geelong and was buried in Mooroopna Cemetery.[2]

The playwright Andrea James is his granddaughter.[1]

Footnotes

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  1. ^ ADB calls it the Aboriginal Progressive Association of Victoria, but the SBS interview with his granddaughter confirms that they were referring to the same organisation. There is a discrepancy with the dates though.

References

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  1. ^ a b James, Andrea (19 March 2018). "A Tamil amongst First Australians" (Audio (11 mins)). SBS Tamil (Interview). Interviewed by Sanchayan, Kulasegaram. SBS. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "James, Thomas Shadrach (1859 - 1946)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. 2006. Retrieved 18 November 2009.
  3. ^ "Australian Aborigines' League". Collaborating for Indigenous Rights. National Museum of Australia. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012.