John Estell
John Estell was an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Parliament from 1899 until his death and held a number of ministerial positions in the Government of New South Wales. He was a member of the Labor Party.
Estell was born in the Hunter Region coal mining town of Minmi. He was the son of a coal-miner and was educated to elementary level at Rydal, Wallerawang and Bathurst public schools. His initial employment was as a steam engine driver at the Minmi Colliery in 1882. He was an office-holder in the Colliery Employees Federation from 1894 and an elected member of Plattsburg Municipal Council from 1888 till 1901. He was the mayor in 1891, 1897 and 1899.
In 1899, during the premiership of George Reid he was admitted to life membership of the New South Wales Legislative Council. He resigned his Legislative Council seat to successfully contest the Legislative Assembly seat of Wallsend as the ALP candidate in the 1901 general election. The previous member, David Watkins had resigned to successfully contest the federal seat of Newcastle after the Federation of Australia. Estell's seat was abolished in the reduction of numbers in the Assembly following Federation but he was subsequently elected to the seat of Waratah at the 1904 State election. He represented this seat until it was also abolished in 1913, after which he again represented the re-created seat of Wallsend.
In the New South Wales Labor Government of William Holman he was the Minister for Labour and Industry from 1914 and was also the Minister for Mines from 1915. During the ALP split over conscription in World War I he opposed Holman and remained loyal to the party's policy of no conscription. He was subsequently dismissed from the New South Wales Government.
In 1920 multi-member seats elected by proportional representation were used for elections to the Legislative Assembly. Estell was one of the five members elected for the seat of Newcastle. During the Labor premierships of John Storey and James Dooley he was the Minister for Public Works and Railways from April 1920 till April 1922 except for the short period of the first Nationalist Government of George Fuller.
Estell retired from the Assembly at the 1922 State election but accepted a life appointment to the Legislative Council which he kept until his death in 1928.
