Hugh Mahon – Patriot, Pressman, Politician Vol 2

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Hugh Mahon: Patriot, Pressman, Politician
Volume 2: Politician, The years from 1901-1931
by Jeff Kildea,
As a political agitator, journalist, businessman and politician, Hugh Mahon had a varied and
fascinating life. Born in Offaly, he and his family migrated to America in 1869, but returned
to Ireland in 1880 after their American dream failed. He was active in the Land League in
County Wexford which led to his arrest and imprisonment with Parnell in 1881, and exile to
Australia. As a crusading journalist he exposed corruption and became a thorn in the side of
the Forrest government in Western Australia during the 1890s. He was elected to the first
Commonwealth parliament in 1901 and served in four Labor ministries, rising to Minister for
External Affairs during the First World War. He has the distinction of being the only person
expelled from the Commonwealth parliament after he criticised British rule in Ireland.
This book, the second part of a two-volume biography of Mahon, covers the period from
his election to parliament in 1901 until his death in 1931. It describes his almost 20 years as
a backbencher and a minister during which he gained a reputation as one of the brainiest men
in parliament as well as one of the most controversial. It provides an insight into his
reluctant decision to oppose conscription in 1916 and examines in depth his commitment to
Irish self-government and the circumstances of his dramatic expulsion from parliament in
1920. The volume also looks at Mahon’s career as managing director of the Catholic Church
Property Insurance Co. and his intervention in Irish politics during the debate over the Anglo-
Irish treaty. It is the story of a flawed genius who simultaneously evoked high praise and
damning criticism.

Dr Jeff Kildea is an adjunct professor in Irish Studies at the University of New South Wales.
In 2014 he held the Keith Cameron Chair of Australian History at University College Dublin.
He is the author of Tearing the Fabric: Sectarianism in Australia 1910-1925 (2002); Anzacs
and Ireland (2007); Wartime Australians: Billy Hughes (2008), and co-author of To foster an
Irish spirit: The Irish National Association of Australasia 1915-2015 (2020).