William Plain

William Plain
Senator for Victoria
In office 1 July 1917 – 30 June 1923
In office 25 August 1925 – 30 June 1938
Preceded by	Edward Russell
Personal details
Born	1868 Scotland
Died	14 October 1961 (aged 92–93)
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Labor (1908–17) Nationalist (1917–31) UAP (1931–38)
Occupation	Farm worker, goldminer

William Plain (1868 – 14 October 1961) was a Scottish-born Australian politician.

Born in Scotland, where he was educated, he migrated to Australia in 1890, where he became a farm worker and goldminer at Lara, Victoria. In 1908, he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the Labor member for Geelong. He was also President of the Board of Land and Works and Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey in 1913, as well as Minister for Water Supply and Agriculture. He left the Labor Party in the wake of the 1916 split over conscription, joining the Nationalist Party.

In 1917, he left the Assembly to contest the Australian Senate as a Nationalist candidate for Victoria. He was defeated in 1922, but was re-elected in 1925; he was appointed early to the Senate after the death of Edward Russell. In 1931 he was re-elected as a United Australia Party Senator. He was defeated in 1937 and died in 1961.