 He married Evangeline Mary Geake Lake on 1 January 1883 at Forbes; they had six children.After working as a shearer, farmer and drover, he moved to Sydney to become a journalist in 1889 and was editor of the "Democrat", a single tax paper, in 1891; he had founded the Forbes tax reform group in 1887 and joined the Single Tax League in 1889.In 1890 he represented Wagga Wagga on the Trades and Labor Council, and in 1891 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the Labor member for Newtown, serving until 1894.