Chifley, Ben (Joseph Benedict) (1885-1951)

Australian Labor prime minister 1945-49. He united the party in fulfilling a welfare and nationalization programme 1945-49 (although he failed in an attempt to nationalize the banks in 1947) and initiated an immigration programme and the Snowy Mountains hydroelectric project.

Chifley was minister of post-war reconstruction 1942-45 under John Curtin, when he succeeded him as prime minister. He crushed a communist-led coal miners' strike in 1949 by using troops as mine labour. He was leader of the Opposition from 1949 until his death.

The son of a New South Wales blacksmith, he began work at 15 and was largely self-educated. He worked on the railways, cofounded the Locomotive Engineers Union in 1920, and was elected to the federal House of Representatives in 1928 but lost his seat in 1931.