Shadrach Livingstone James

James was born in 1890, the eldest son of Thomas Shadrach James[1] and Ada Bethel Cooper at the Cummeragunja Aboriginal Reserve in New South Wales. His father was a Mauritian-born teacher and his mother a member of the Yorta Yorta people.[2]

In 1909 James married Maggie Campbell in Echuca. The couple had seven children, three sons and four daughters.[2]

James was educated in the mission school run by his father and eventually became qualified as a teaching assistant. After worked with his father it was assumed that he would be appointed his successor as head teacher; however, the New South Wales government declined to appoint him to the position.[2]

In 1928 James and his family moved to Mooroopna where he worked for Ardmona Fruit Products Co-operative. He was elected as secretary of the local branch of the Food Preservers' Union and was for a time vice-president of the Goulburn district council.[2]

Between 1928[2](or 1933?) and 1955 was honorary secretary of the Australian Aborigines' League, which he helped to establish in Melbourne in 1933, along with his brother-in-law William Cooper and others.[3] [lower-alpha 1] In this role he was active in lobbying government to improve living conditions for Aboriginal people.[2]

James faced bureaucratic opposition due to his mixed-race heritage.[2]

James died in 1956 of a heart attack in Geelong and was buried in Mooroopna Cemetery.[2]

The playwright Andrea James is his granddaughter.[1]