Harry Turley

Joseph Henry Lewis Turley (24 April 1859 – 5 June 1929) was an English-born Australian politician. He was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly and an Australian Senator.

Early life
Turley was born on 24 April 1859 in Gloucester, England. He was the son of Agnes (née Oliver) and Charles Turley; his father was a master shoemaker.

Turley was educated in Brixham and went to sea at a young age. He arrived in Australia in 1879 and found work in Brisbane as a wharf labourer. He joined the Wharf Labourers' Union and eventually became secretary and president. During the 1890 maritime dispute, he was a member of the intercolonial defence committee organised by William Spence. He also represented the Queensland Shearers' Union as a delegate to negotiating conferences in Sydney during the 1891 shearers' strike.

State politics
In 1893, Harry Turley was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland as the Labor member for South Brisbane, serving as Home Secretary in Anderson Dawson's short-lived Labor Government in 1899. In 1902 he left the Assembly.

Federal politics
Turley first stood for federal parliament at the inaugural federal election in 1901, unsuccessfully standing for the ALP in the House of Representatives seat of Oxley. He was elected to the Senate at the 1903 federal election.

On 1 July 1910, he was appointed President of the Senate, a position he held until 8 July 1913. He remained a Senator until his defeat in 1917.

Personal life
Turley married Mary Smith in 1886, with whom he had four children.

After leaving politics, Turley became a shipping master with the Queensland Harbours and Rivers Department. Turley died in 1929 and was buried in South Brisbane Cemetery.