Shadrach Livingstone James

Shadrach Livingstone James
Born	(1890-05-15)15 May 1890 Cummeragunja Reserve, Australia
Died	7 August 1956(1956-08-07) (aged 66) Geelong, Australia
Resting place	Mooroopna
Parent(s)	Thomas Shadrach James Ada Bethel Cooper
Relatives	Douglas 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

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

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

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

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

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

1. 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. "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.