George Martens

George William Martens (1874 – 23 August 1949) was an Australian politician.

Born in Mount Perry, Queensland, he received a primary education before becoming a bushworker. Martens gained work at the Pleystowe Sugar Mill, west of Mackay in northern Queensland, where two of his co-workers were future Prime Minister Arthur Fadden and Queensland state politician Maurice Hynes.^[1]

Martens was active in the trade union movement, notably the Sugar Workers Union, and was an organiser with the Australian Workers' Union, of which he eventually became Queensland secretary. In 1928, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for Herbert, defeating the sitting Nationalist Lewis Nott. He held the seat until 1946, when he retired from politics to become director of Commonwealth Oil Refineries. Martens died in 1949.^[2]

Sources

• Arklay, T.M. (2016) Arthur Fadden: A Political Silhouette, Australian Scholarly Publishing: North Melbourne. ISBN 978 1 925003 84 0.

References