George Edwin Yates

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George Edwin Yates (14 May 1871 – 16 July 1959), often known as Gunner Yates, was an Australian Labor Party politician who represented the Adelaide electorate in the Australian Parliament from 1914 to 1919 and again from 1922 to 1931.

Early life
He was born in Bradley, Staffordshire, England, and moved to Australia with his family at age seven, growing up in Adelaide. He left school early and worked from age twelve in a leather factory, then as a japanner and in other jobs with A. M. Simpson & Son. In 1911 he became secretary to the Agricultural Implement Makers’ Union and was the first permanent secretary of the United Labor Party.

Political career and WWI
Yates was elected to the House of Representatives in a 1914 by‑election after the death of Ernest Roberts. He strongly opposed conscription in World War I. While still a member of Parliament, he volunteered for military service in 1916 and served in the 50th Battery, Australian Field Artillery in France in 1918, returning in 1919. He was nicknamed “Gunner Yates” after his return.

Mutiny case
Five days after coming home, he was arrested by military police and charged with mutiny for a protest on the troopship Somali. In March 1919 he was found guilty of conduct prejudicial to good order and of inciting mutiny, and he received 60 days’ detention with hard labour. His father died while he was in custody, and Yates was allowed to attend the funeral. He was released in May 1919.

Later political career
He narrowly lost his federal seat in 1919 to Reginald Blundell but returned to politics as state secretary of the Labor Party. Yates won back the Adelaide seat in the 1922 election and was re‑elected in 1925, 1928 and 1929. He advocated making Song of Australia the national anthem and even sang it in Parliament. In 1929 he supported an independent Labor candidate for the Legislative Council against the party’s endorsed candidate.

After 1931 he tried other offices, including the South Australian Legislative Council, and contested various elections. He left the Labor Party in 1941 in protest of what he called malpractices, though he said his political beliefs remained. He worked as a munitions worker during World War II, stood as an independent in 1943, and pursued further campaigns into the late 1940s. In 1949, at the age of 78, he ran for the Senate as an ungrouped candidate focusing on defence issues, but was not elected.

Death
George Edwin Yates died in Prospect, South Australia, in 1959 at the age of 88.