Richard Ball (Australian politician)

Richard Thomas Ball (14 September 1857 – 30 October 1937) was an Australian politician.

He was born in Sydney to farmer George Ball and Ann, née Hooper. After attending primary school at Eastern Creek, he worked for several engineering companies and as a blacksmith before purchasing Burn and Sons foundry at Goulburn in 1881. On 6 May 1880 he married Esther Arnold, with whom he had four children. He established his own company in 1885, but was bankrupted in 1894. Ball served on Goulburn Council from 1887 to 1894, and was mayor from 1890 to 1891. After being discharged from bankruptcy he moved to Albury and was involved in the building of the waterworks; he also represented Albury in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for a term from 1895 to 1898 as a Free Trade member. After his defeat he moved to Sydney, practising as a mechanical engineer.[1]

In 1904, Ball returned to the Legislative Assembly as the Liberal member for Corowa. From 1916 to 1920 he served as Secretary for Public Works and Minister for Railways. With the introduction of proportional representation in 1920 Ball, now a Nationalist, was elected as one of the members for Murray. He was Minister for Agriculture briefly from April to June 1922 before resuming his old position as Secretary for Public Works and Minister for Railways, in which he served until 1925. He was responsible for passing through Parliament the Act authorising the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and signed the contract for its erection.[2] After single-member districts were re-introduced in 1927 he returned to his old seat of Corowa, and also spent the period from 1927 to 1930 as Minister for Lands. On 26 January 1926 he had married Lillie May Hume. In 1931 Ball defected to the Nationalists' coalition partner, the Country Party. He served in the Assembly until his death at Marrickville in 1937.[1]