Moving to Perth, Western Australia, he became a foreman at a boot factory and secretary of the Bootmakers' Union.

In 1933 he was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly as the Labor member for Maylands, holding the seat until 1936.

He served an apprenticeship with a Danish bootmaker and later worked in Edward Thomas Neighbour's boot factory in Fortitude Valley, where his supervisor was his future Senate colleague Joe Collings.

He took up a selection and farmed wheat for a period, but subsequently returned to Perth where he became the foreman of the Berryman & Co. boot factory and secretary of the Bootmakers' Union.

He was defeated after a single term at the 1936 election, losing to independent candidate Harry Hearn.