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known Territory businessman V V Brown, who was elected along with Crush. During the campaign Crush was
challenged to defend his Labor credentials with critics claiming he had not signed the Labor ‘pledge.’ The Northern
Territory Times reported that Crush gave a ‘good fighting speech from a Labour point of view, lasting considerably
over an hour which was marred, however, by a vindictive and totally uncalled for personal attack on the editor of
the local paper’. During his speech Crush claimed to be the first representative who had not considered Territory
questions from the South Australian point of view but had regarded solely the interests of the Territory when
questions affecting the Territory had to be dealt with. He said he was accepted as a member of the Labor party
without signing a pledge ‘because the party did not ask for pledges from NT representatives’. He said this was
largely because it was ‘recognised that, apart from the Chinese question, there were no labour problems to be
dealt with yet in this country; still he hoped that we would soon have plenty of workers in the country who would
reap the benefit of the work which the Labor party were doing’. He added that by voting with the Labor party on
industrial questions, he received the support of that party when he was asking the Government for concessions on
behalf of the Territory.
When Crush won the seat for Labor and Brown won the other seat, the newspaper claimed that if there had
not been the arguments amongst the Labor candidates about who had been officially preselected, Labor would
have won both seats. As it was, the two elected members only sat in the House for the remainder of the year.
In January 1911 the Territory was transferred from South Australia to the Commonwealth and Territorians were
disenfranchised. At a ‘farewell’ dinner hosted for Crush at Darwin’s Club Hotel, he stated that although he had
‘ceased to be a member of the SA Parliament he did not consider that his career in politics was finally terminated.
It was almost a certainty that within a couple of years the Territory would be granted representation in the federal
parliament and in that event, if his services were required he was there to do his utmost for them if returned’.
Crush continued on a theme that was still an issue in 1996. As reported in the Northern Territory Times regarding
the transfer he said that he ‘considered the epoch of today marked a turning point in the history of the Territory and
he did not doubt for a moment that when the federal government decided to do things they would start with no half
measures... As soon as they were sure of their ground and convinced they were on the right track he expected that
the railway would be started without any unnecessary delay’.
Although no longer an elected Member of Parliament, Crush remained active in political affairs and became
particularly interested in reform of the treatment of Aboriginal people. He and Fanny continued to live in Brocks
Creek, but he was also a supporter of the Workers Club, officially formed in Darwin in May 1912.
Unfortunately, Tom Crush did not have the opportunity to realise some of his ambitions and reforms. He died in
Darwin of heart failure on 27 August 1913 at the age of 48. His death was lamented both in the Territory and South
Australia. The Adelaide Advertiser reported: ‘[Mr Crush] devoted much attention to public affairs in the Territory
and his loss at a comparatively early age is much deplored. A Labor colleague, when informed of the death, said
‘it was a very great shock to me to learn of the sudden death of our old comrade, the late Tom Crush. He was a
member of the party long enough for every member to appreciate his big heartedness and his ability. Unfortunately
the transfer of the Territory to the Commonwealth deprived us of his services. His knowledge of that great country
was extensive and his love of it was keen and had he lived I believe he would have rendered possibly great service
to Australia by representing the Territory in the federal Parliament when provision to that end is made. He was a
thoroughly loyal supporter of the Labor Party’.
Two years after Tom Crush’s death, his former South Australian Labor Parliamentary colleagues, and several
of his Territory friends, erected a monument to him in the Goyder Road cemetery in Darwin where he is buried.
The monument, which still stands as a tribute to his contribution to the political and social development of the
Territory, was described as ‘an exceedingly handsome one’. It bears the inscription ‘In memory of Thomas
Crush, beloved husband of Frances Crush of Brocks Creek Northern Territory, born 1865, died August 27th,- He represented the Northern Territory of SA in Parliament for two years in the interests of the Labor Party.
The quality of a man’s manhood is determined by his conduct. Loveing [sic] the truth he hateth wrong. So he lived
as he died. His life was shortened so that he only saw the promise of the harvest whose seed he helped so faithfully
to sow’. Territory businessman, Mr J C Buscall, who was a close friend of Crush, performed the work of fixing the
monument, without charge. It was unveiled by Mr John Burton, president of the Darwin branch of the Australian
Workers Union (AWU), the headstone having been previously veiled by the flag of the Australian Commonwealth.
The speakers included H E Carey, then Government Secretary, and Harold Nelson, then organiser of the Australian
Workers Union, later to become the Territory’s first Member of Federal Parliament, and several other unionists and
personal friends.
Australian Labor Party records, Mortlock Library, Adelaide; Northern Territory Times, various editions; personal research notes; South
Australian Parliamentary Debates, various editions.
BARBARA JAMES, Vol 3.
CUBILLO, DELFIN ANTONIO (1913–1986), messenger boy, rigger, cleaner, soldier, dental technician,
musician and sportsman, was born in Darwin on 24 December 1913, the son of Antonio Cubillo and his wife
Lilly, nee McKeddie. He grew up in the Police Paddock, Stuart Park, where the Asian men lived with their
families. The fathers were principally Filipinos or Malays while the mothers were part Aboriginal. His grandfather
George McKeddie came to Australia from Avoch, Scotland. When in Darwin before the turn of the century his
companion was Annie Duwun, an Aboriginal woman from the Larrakia language group, the traditional owners of
the Darwin area. They had two children, Lilly and Jack. Lilly married Antonio Cubillo, who came to Darwin from