James Hegney 1909
Scholarship for Mechanical Drawing
James (Jim) Hegney won scholarships for Mechanical Drawing in 1909 and 1910 during his apprenticeship as a boilermaker with the West Australian Government Railways. He did not remain with the Railways, but gave the greater part of his life’s energies to politics.
He is remembered for his honesty and straightforwardness as
well as his perfectionism. Towards
the end of his political career in 1958 he was given the title, ‘Father of
the Legislative Council’ which he held for ten years. Prior to this he was the Member for the Legislative Assembly
for Middle Swan from 1930 – 1947, and from 1950 –1962; and the Member for
the Legislative Assembly for Belmont from 1962 –68. He acted as the Chairman of Committees from 1953 to 1956 and
as the Speaker of the House from 1956 to 1959.
His areas of special involvement included being on the Select Committee
to inquire into the Rural Relief Fund Act Amendment Bill of 1937 and into the
Ways and Means of Obtaining Adequate Meat Supplies in the Metropolitan area,
1944.
Jim grew up in an Irish Catholic family
of six boys in Woodbridge, close to the Workshops where his father was
employed as a blacksmith and striker. The Hegney family owned three blocks of land on one side of
Montreal Road (one of which remained in the family until recent years) while
the Williams family owned the land on the other side of the road.
It was Eva Williams that Jim eventually married in St Mary’s
Cathedral in Perth, but not before he was almost forty and had begun his
political career as a member of the Labor Party. 
Prior
to that he had worked in the Midland Railway Workshops where he had been a
member of the Boilermakers Union and was on the selection panel for the
selection of apprentices.
His brother William (Bill) Hegney who had played a leading role in the Union movement since 1920 also joined the Labor party, becoming a Government Minister within the 38 year span of Jim Hegney’s political career.
Thanks to Terry O'Brien for photographs and information for this story.
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