Born in 1852 in the South Australian town of Gumeracha, James O’Loghlin worked as a farmer, goods carrier and journalist before being elected in 1888 to the Legislative Council for the Northern District in South Australia. O’Loghlin served as Chief Secretary and Minister for Defence in the South Australian Kingston Government 1896–1899, before losing his seat in 1902.

After an unsuccessful campaign for the Senate in 1901, O’Loghlin was elected by the South Australian Parliament to fill a casual vacancy (which arose when the High Court declared void the 1906 election of Joseph Vardon). However, the High Court subsequently upheld Vardon’s petition for a fresh election, and O’Loghlin lost the seat. He then returned to state politics, serving as member for Flinders in the House of Assembly from 1910–1912, before finally being elected to the Senate in May 1913, holding his seat in the 1914 double dissolution.

O’Loghlin’s involvement in the military was similarly longstanding, dating from his enlistment in the Terowie Volunteer Corps in 1883. In 1895 he was appointed captain in the South Australian Militia, and, post federation, served as major in the 10th Australian Infantry Regiment. He later raised and commanded the Irish Corps, 10th Regiment (1901–1910), before retiring as a lieutenant-colonel in 1909.

In August 1915, aged 62, O’Loghlin enlisted for overseas service, reportedly declaring to his fellow Senator and Minister for Defence, George Pearce, that if ‘you cannot put me in the firing line, put me as near to it as you can’. He was the only sitting senator to serve overseas in the war. Appointed a temporary lieutenant colonel in the Australian Imperial Force, O’Loghlin commanded troopships disembarking in Egypt in April and September 1916. On his return to Australia in 1917, opposed to conscription and appalled to discover the acrimony the issue had caused within his party, O’Loghlin declared ‘there is more war here in Australia than there is at the front, and… it is being conducted more bitterly’.

O’Loghlin remained in the Senate throughout his military service, speaking regularly on defence and agricultural issues, but was defeated in the 1919 election. Re-elected to the Senate in 1923, he died in Adelaide from tuberculosis in 1925.

Sources:

• The Australian Dictionary of Biography
• The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate (online edition)
• The Parliamentary Handbook, Parliament of Australia
• Nathan Church, Hannah Gobbett, Martin Lumb and Rob Lundie, Commonwealth Members of Parliament who have served in war: Colonial wars and the First World War, Parliamentary Library Research Paper, September 2014

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