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ARCHER, Brian Roper (1929–2013)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Tasmania, 1975–94 (Liberal Party of Australia)</span>

ARCHER, Brian Roper (1929–2013)
Senator for Tasmania, 1975–94 (Liberal Party of Australia)

Brian Roper Archer was born at Calder, North-West Tasmania on 21 August 1929, the youngest of four children of Clive Anton Archer and Ellen (Nellie) Archer, née Gilmour. Clive Archer, an artillery officer during WW1, had served at Gallipoli and in France and was awarded the Military Cross. Brian grew up at Calder on the family dairy farm, a sixteen hectare soldier settlement block

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AULICH, Terrence Gordon (1945– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Tasmania, 1985–93 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

AULICH, Terrence Gordon (1945– )
Senator for Tasmania, 1985–93 (Australian Labor Party)

Terrence (Terry) Gordon Aulich, teacher, politician, writer and lobbyist was born in Bathurst, New South Wales, on 5 October 1945, the eldest of four children of Tasmanians Gordon Joseph (Baron) Aulich, a linesman for the Tasmanian Hydro-Electric Commission (HEC), and his wife Beverley, née Gofton, assistant council clerk. He attended state schools at Scottsdale in north-eastern Tasmania, completing his secondary education at Scottsdale High

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BAUME, Michael Ehrenfried (1930– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for New South Wales, 1985–96 (Liberal Party of Australia)</span>

BAUME, Michael Ehrenfried (1930– )
Senator for New South Wales, 1985–96 (Liberal Party of Australia)

Throughout his long career in both Houses of federal Parliament, Michael Baume was seldom far from controversy. Quick-witted and hard-working, with a flair for publicity, Baume was a relentless, effective and often ruthless opponent inside and outside the chambers. He was a close friend and ally of John Howard, for many years acting as his ‘numbers man’ in the Senate. Although he was amply

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BAUME, Peter Erne (1935– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for New South Wales, 1974–91 (Liberal Party of Australia)</span>

BAUME, Peter Erne (1935– )
Senator for New South Wales, 1974–91 (Liberal Party of Australia)

Peter Baume, who served for seventeen years in the Senate, was a small ‘l’ Liberal in the Deakinite tradition, representing the ameliorative and interventionist strand of the Liberal Party. Baume was sometimes at odds with his party’s public position and was prepared to cross the floor on issues of principle. He enjoyed distinguished careers in three separate areas of endeavour (medicine, politics and academia).

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BEAHAN, Michael Eamon (1937–2022)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Western Australia, 1987–96 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

BEAHAN, Michael Eamon (1937–2022)
Senator for Western Australia, 1987–96 (Australian Labor Party)

Michael Beahan, electrician, teacher, and state secretary of the ALP in Western Australia (1981–87), rose to be the nineteenth President of the Senate, holding that post from 1 February 1994 to 20 August 1996, before his formidable parliamentary career was cut short by pre-selection party politics. Michael Eamon Beahan was born on 21 January 1937 in London, England, the son of Irish autoelectrician Francis

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BELL, Robert John (1950–2001)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Tasmania, 1990–96 (Australian Democrats)</span>

BELL, Robert John (1950–2001)
Senator for Tasmania, 1990–96 (Australian Democrats)

Most knowledge of Robert John Bell’s early life derives from his highly personal first speech to the Senate in May 1990. He was born in Hobart, Tasmania, on 22 July 1950. His parents were based at Bronte Park, his father employed on hydro-electricity works. Soon the couple separated, Robert remaining with his mother, Frances Ellen. While she qualified as a schoolteacher, the boy lived

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BJELKE-PETERSEN, Florence Isabel (1920–2017)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Queensland, 1981–1993 (National Country Party; National Party of Australia)</span>

BJELKE-PETERSEN, Florence Isabel (1920–2017)
Senator for Queensland, 1981–1993 (National Country Party; National Party of Australia)

Florence Bjelke-Petersen was born Florence Isabel Gilmour, in Brisbane on 11 August 1920, eldest of two daughters of James Pollock Gilmour, an accountant and company secretary, and his wife Florence Mabel, née Low. Growing up in the Brisbane riverside suburb of New Farm, her childhood was a secure and happy one, embedded in a contented family life. Florence began her schooling at the New

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BLACK, John Rees (1952– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Queensland, 1985–90 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

BLACK, John Rees (1952– )
Senator for Queensland, 1985–90 (Australian Labor Party)

John Rees Black was born in Sydney on 26 January 1952. He was the third of five children of Roger Foster Black, a botanist, born in Adelaide, and his Sydney-born wife Ivy Ada, née Tanner, whose father was said to have been an ‘ardent’ campaigner for Jack Lang. Ivy later wielded considerable back-room influence in the South Australian ALP and she was described as

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BOURNE, Victoria Worrall (1954– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for New South Wales, 1990–2002 (Australian Democrats)</span>

BOURNE, Victoria Worrall (1954– )
Senator for New South Wales, 1990–2002 (Australian Democrats)

In 1973 when the Commonwealth Parliament amended the Electoral Act 1918 to lower the minimum voting age to eighteen, Vicki Bourne was a nineteen-year-old student. Inspired by the opportunity to vote, she looked at the environmental policies of each of the major political parties, rejecting the major parties in favour of the Australia Party. In 1977, when the Australia Party was merging with the

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BROWNHILL, David Gordon Cadell (1935– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for NSW, 1984–2000 (National Party of Australia)</span>

BROWNHILL, David Gordon Cadell (1935– )
Senator for NSW, 1984–2000 (National Party of Australia)

David Gordon Cadell Brownhill was born at the family property, Beaudesert station, near Mudgee, NSW, on 16 November 1935. He was the youngest of four children and the only son of Gordon McMillan Brownhill, grazier, and his wife Mary Wyatt, née Cadell. His early education was completed by correspondence. He then attended Cullenbone Public School and, from 1947 to 1953, Sydney Church of England

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BURNS, Bryant Robert (1929–2007)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Queensland, 1987–96 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

BURNS, Bryant Robert (1929–2007)
Senator for Queensland, 1987–96 (Australian Labor Party)

Bryant Robert Burns was born in Rockhampton, Queensland on 24 March 1929. He was the youngest of three children of Charles Robert Burns, a railway engine driver, and his wife Alice Charlotte, née Wassman. Burns attended Leichhardt Ward Boys’ School until the age of thirteen, when he abandoned his studies to go droving. For three years he worked as a stockman and horsebreaker in

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BUTTON, John Norman (1932–2008)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1974–93 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

BUTTON, John Norman (1932–2008)
Senator for Victoria, 1974–93 (Australian Labor Party)

Variously described as ‘the best prime minister we never had’, ‘a small man of quick wit, crafty calculation and intellectual provocation’, as having ‘an unenviable reputation as a minister with an undisciplined tongue, a politician prone to gaffes’, ‘the first person since Shirley Temple to build a whole career out of whimsy’ and ‘a rare phenomenon in Australian politics: a genuine intellectual, a wit,

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CHANEY, Frederick Michael (1941– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Western Australia, 1971–93 (Liberal Party of Australia)</span>

CHANEY, Frederick Michael (1941– )
Senator for Western Australia, 1971–93 (Liberal Party of Australia)

Fred Chaney’s first speech to the Senate on 25 September 1974 was, for him, ‘a long awaited opportunity’, and he spoke with the assurance of one who had found his vocation. Chaney had visited Parliament many times as a schoolboy and as a law student with his father, Sir Frederick Chaney, who was the MHR for Perth from 1955 to 1969 and Minister for

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CHILDS, Bruce Kenneth (1934–2023)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for New South Wales, 1981–97 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

CHILDS, Bruce Kenneth (1934–2023)
Senator for New South Wales, 1981–97 (Australian Labor Party)

Within two years of entering the Senate in 1981, Bruce Childs was a co-convener of the left-wing of Labor’s federal parliamentary party and the ALP throughout Australia, retaining that role throughout the period of Hawke and Keating Labor governments. Acknowledged as a unifier by his left-wing colleagues, he was recognised by senators from all sides of politics for his courteous, patient and unpretentious manner,

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COATES, John (1944– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Tasmania, 1981–96 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

COATES, John (1944– )
Senator for Tasmania, 1981–96 (Australian Labor Party)

John Coates’ long political career, first as a Member of the House of Representatives for the seat of Denison (1972–75) and then as a Tasmanian senator (1981–96), mirrored the fortunes of federal Labor over three decades. John Coates was born in Melbourne on 23 March 1944, the son of Graeme Coates and his wife Catherine, née Croker. Both his parents were primary school teachers

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COLLINS, Robert Lindsay (1946–2007)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Northern Territory, 1987–98 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

COLLINS, Robert Lindsay (1946–2007)
Senator for Northern Territory, 1987–98 (Australian Labor Party)

Robert Lindsay (Bob) Collins, the first federal parliamentarian from the Northern Territory to hold ministerial office, was born in Newcastle, NSW, on 8 February 1946. His father, Robert James Collins, an illiterate merchant seaman and labourer, was nineteen when he married Fay Lindsay, an eighteen-year-old shop assistant, at Newcastle in January 1945. Bob was the eldest of five children, two girls and three boys.

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COLSTON, Malcolm Arthur (1938–2003)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Queensland, 1976–99 (Australian Labor Party; Independent)</span>

COLSTON, Malcolm Arthur (1938–2003)
Senator for Queensland, 1976–99 (Australian Labor Party; Independent)

Malcolm Arthur Colston was born in Brisbane on 5 April 1938, the eldest child of Douglas Thomas Colston, a carpenter, and his wife Myrtle Clorine Ruby, née Wenck, a primary school teacher before her marriage. Even in his childhood Malcolm was more interested in books than sport. An above average student, he attended Mitchelton State School, Brisbane State High School (1952–55) and then went

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COONEY, Bernard Cornelius (1934– 2019)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1985–2002 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

COONEY, Bernard Cornelius (1934– 2019)
Senator for Victoria, 1985–2002 (Australian Labor Party)

Bernard (Barney) Cornelius Cooney was born on July 11, 1934 at Currie, King Island, Tasmania, the third of four children of Bernard Pius Cooney and his wife Constance (Corrie) Eva, née Curtain. Most of Cooney’s mainly Irish forebears had lived in Tasmania for several generations, one back to the 1820s. There was the frequent Tasmanian background of both convict and west coast mining heritage

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COULTER, John Richard (1930–2024)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for South Australia, 1987–95 (Australian Democrats)</span>

COULTER, John Richard (1930–2024)
Senator for South Australia, 1987–95 (Australian Democrats)

John Richard Coulter was born in Perth, WA, on 3 December 1930, the elder of two children of English-born John Wolfe Stuckley Coulter, a clerk for the Vacuum Oil Company, and Constance Amelia Coulter, née Braddock, a nurse. Growing up in the then outer suburb of Nedlands, John walked each day through the bush to Nedlands Primary School. His mother wanted him to pursue

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CRANE, Arthur Winston (1941– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Western Australia, 1990–2002 (Liberal Party of Australia; Independent Liberal)</span>

CRANE, Arthur Winston (1941– )
Senator for Western Australia, 1990–2002 (Liberal Party of Australia; Independent Liberal)

Arthur Winston Crane (known as Winston) was born in Perth on 21 August 1941, one of seven children of farmer Arthur Crane and his wife Lavina, née Longman, from Bindi Bindi in the wheat belt north of Perth. Winston Crane’s uncle, Albert (Bert) Crane was a longstanding Member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly representing the constituency of Moore for the National Country Party

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CRICHTON-BROWNE, Noel Ashley (1944– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Western Australia, 1981–96 (Liberal Party of Australia; Independent Liberal)</span>

CRICHTON-BROWNE, Noel Ashley (1944– )
Senator for Western Australia, 1981–96 (Liberal Party of Australia; Independent Liberal)

Noel Ashley Crichton-Browne, who was President of the Western Australian Liberal Party from 1975 to 1979, was elected to the Senate for a term beginning on 1 July 1981. He was reelected in 1983, 1984, and 1990, serving as a Liberal Party senator until 9 September 1995 and then as an Independent Liberal, before retiring upon the expiry of his final term on 30

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CROWLEY, Rosemary Anne (1938– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for South Australia, 1983–2002 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

CROWLEY, Rosemary Anne (1938– )
Senator for South Australia, 1983–2002 (Australian Labor Party)

Rosemary Anne WIllis (later Crowley), was born in Melbourne, Victoria on 30 July 1938, the second of six children of Monica Mary Willis, née Redmond, and Everard Joseph Willis, an accountant. Her family, her Roman Catholic upbringing, and her primary and secondary education at Kilmaire Brigidine Convent in Hawthorn between 1943 and 1955, combined to instil in her a passion for social justice and

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DEVEREUX, John Robert (1946– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Tasmania, 1987–96 (Australian Labor Party; Independent)</span>

DEVEREUX, John Robert (1946– )
Senator for Tasmania, 1987–96 (Australian Labor Party; Independent)

John Robert Devereux, union organiser, was born in Gormanston, Tasmania, on 8 February 1946, the second of seven children and only son of Albert Bernard and Floris Merle Devereux. His father was a truck and bus driver and labourer. Educated at St Mary’s Convent School, Gormanston, St Joseph’s School (1954–57) and R. M. Murray High School (1958–61), both at Queenstown, and at the Mt.

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DEVLIN, Arthur Ray (1926–1995)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Tasmania, 1985–1990 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

DEVLIN, Arthur Ray (1926–1995)
Senator for Tasmania, 1985–1990 (Australian Labor Party)

Arthur Ray Devlin (known as Ray), miner, waterside worker and union organiser, was born on 17 March 1926, at Burnie, Tasmania, one of eight children of Llewellyn Max Devlin, a waterside worker, and his wife Sarah Ellen, née Holmyard. He was educated at Burnie State School, leaving at the age of fourteen, and giving his age as nineteen to work underground at the Electrolytic

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DUNN, Patricia Irene (1948– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for New South Wales, 1988–90 (Nuclear Disarmament Party; Independent)</span>

DUNN, Patricia Irene (1948– )
Senator for New South Wales, 1988–90 (Nuclear Disarmament Party; Independent)

Patricia Irene (Irina) Dunn[1] was born on 17 March 1948 in Shanghai, China, the eldest of two children of Timothy Edward Dunn and his wife Raisa Andreevna, née Yakimenko. Irina’s mother was of Ukrainian origin while her father, who was also born in Shanghai, was of mixed Irish, Portuguese and Chinese ancestry. Timothy Dunn worked on the North China Daily News and was aligned

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DURACK, Peter Drew (1926–2008)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Western Australia, 1971–93 (Liberal Party of Australia)</span>

DURACK, Peter Drew (1926–2008)
Senator for Western Australia, 1971–93 (Liberal Party of Australia)

Peter Durack was described by his greatest adversary in the Senate, Gareth Evans, as ‘a man of genuinely Liberal reformist instincts’. Committed to the protection of individual rights through the limitation of executive power, and to preventing the erosion of the rights of the states by federal encroachment, as Attorney-General in the Fraser Government from 1977 to 1983, Durack oversaw a significant period of

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EVANS, Gareth John (1944– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1978–96 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

EVANS, Gareth John (1944– )
Senator for Victoria, 1978–96 (Australian Labor Party)

Gareth John Evans, the elder child of tram driver Allan Oswald Evans and his wife Phyllis (Phyl), née LeBoeuf, formerly a store manager for Woolworths, was born at Kew, Melbourne, on 5 September 1944. Gareth grew up in Hawthorn, not far from the tram depot where his father worked, before the family moved to Surrey Hills in the 1950s. Evans maintained a life-long connection

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FOREMAN, Dominic John (1933–2020)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for South Australia, 1981–97 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

FOREMAN, Dominic John (1933–2020)
Senator for South Australia, 1981–97 (Australian Labor Party)

Dominic Foreman spent most of his early working life in the automobile industry, first as an assembly worker, then as a union official. Committed to the Labor Party’s ‘great goal of social equality’, he continued during his years in the Senate to defend the rights and conditions of low-paid workers, particularly those in manufacturing industries.[1] Dominic John Foreman was born in Clare, South Australia,

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GILES, Patricia Jessie (1928–2017)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Western Australia, 1981–93 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

GILES, Patricia Jessie (1928–2017)
Senator for Western Australia, 1981–93 (Australian Labor Party)

Pat Giles was born Patricia Jessie White, daughter of Eustace Frederick White, car salesman, shop keeper and accountant, and his wife Marjorie Eva, née Norris, schoolteacher, on 16 November 1928 at Minlaton, South Australia. The family moved to Melbourne, but the marriage was ‘violent and unhappy’. Marjorie and Pat returned to Adelaide in 1931, shortly before Marjorie gave birth to her second daughter. Marjorie

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HAINES, Janine (1945–2004)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for South Australia, 1977–78, 1981–90 (Australian Democrats)</span>

HAINES, Janine (1945–2004)
Senator for South Australia, 1977–78, 1981–90 (Australian Democrats)

Janine Carter, later Haines, was born in Tanunda, South Australia, on 8 May 1945, the eldest of three children. Her father, Francis Claude Carter, a policeman, was posted to various South Australian country towns and later joined the Commonwealth Public Service; her mother, Beryl Madge Carter, née Winton, became a primary school teacher during the 1950s. Janine was educated at six primary schools; the

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HAMER, David John (1923–2002)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1978–90 (Liberal Party of Australia)</span>

HAMER, David John (1923–2002)
Senator for Victoria, 1978–90 (Liberal Party of Australia)

David John Hamer, who served in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, had a distinguished career as a naval officer before entering the Parliament in 1969. He was also an enthusiastic, fluent writer with two published books and numerous newspaper contributions and broadcasts. During his years in the Senate, and particularly his period as Deputy President and Chairman of Committees, he was

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JENKINS, Jean Alice (1938– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Western Australia, 1987–90 (Australian Democrats)</span>

JENKINS, Jean Alice (1938– )
Senator for Western Australia, 1987–90 (Australian Democrats)

Jean Jenkins was born Jean Alice Elliott on 16 March 1938 in Bristol, England, to Ernest Elliott and his wife Alice Elizabeth, née Jones. She was brought up by adoptive parents Daniel and Blanche Jones in Swansea, Wales. Jean attended Swansea Girls High School and completed a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in languages at the University of Reading, majoring in Italian, French and German.

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JONES, Gerry Norman Francis (1932–2017)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Queensland, 1981–96 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

JONES, Gerry Norman Francis (1932–2017)
Senator for Queensland, 1981–96 (Australian Labor Party)

Norman Francis (Gerry) Jones was born on 16 August 1932 at Roma, Queensland, the younger of two sons of William Norman Harcourt Jones, railway worker, and his wife Kathleen Alice, née Moore, a tailor. When he was growing up, his father insisted that he should be known as Gerry and later in life he formalised that name by deed-poll. He attended St Columba’s School,

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KERNOT, Cheryl (1948– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Queensland, 1990–97 (Australian Democrats)</span>

KERNOT, Cheryl (1948– )
Senator for Queensland, 1990–97 (Australian Democrats)

Cheryl Kernot was born Cheryl Paton in Maitland, NSW on 5 December 1948, the eldest of four children of Mervyn Roydon Paton, a purchasing officer for the Maitland City Council, and his wife Zena, née Hunter. To help with the family budget, Merv took a second job as manager of the Princes Theatre in East Maitland. Although their parents were not regular churchgoers, all

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LEWIS, Austin William Russell (1932– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1976–93 (Liberal Party of Australia)</span>

LEWIS, Austin William Russell (1932– )
Senator for Victoria, 1976–93 (Liberal Party of Australia)

Austin William Russell Lewis was born in the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond on 5 December 1932, the only child of David Lewis, a fruiterer and case merchant, and his wife Dulcie Alexandrina, née Williams. Austin grew up during the Second World War, which had ‘a very deep influence’ on him and in his youth he became a ‘dedicated patriot’. His ‘great ambition in

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LOOSLEY, Stephen (1952– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for New South Wales, 1990–95 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

LOOSLEY, Stephen (1952– )
Senator for New South Wales, 1990–95 (Australian Labor Party)

Born on 29 December 1952 in the working class suburb of Carlton in southern Sydney, Stephen Loosley was the son of clothing worker Bernard Alan Loosley and his wife Jean Elizabeth, née Pike. The eldest of three children, Stephen was educated at Carlton Public School before winning a place at the selective Sydney Technical High School in 1965. Between 1972 and 1975 he undertook

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MacGIBBON, David John (1934– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Queensland, 1978–99 (Liberal Party of Australia)</span>

MacGIBBON, David John (1934– )
Senator for Queensland, 1978–99 (Liberal Party of Australia)

David John MacGibbon was born on 13 May 1934 in Brisbane, Queensland, son of Frederick William MacGibbon, cane grower and accountant, and his wife Eva Nicholson, née Ewart. He was educated at Maryborough High School and the University of Queensland, where he graduated as a Bachelor of Dental Science, winning the Carlisle C Bastian Prize and the Mary Moffatt Memorial Prize in 1956. MacGibbon

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MACKLIN, Michael John (1943– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Queensland, 1981–90 (Australian Democrats)</span>

MACKLIN, Michael John (1943– )
Senator for Queensland, 1981–90 (Australian Democrats)

Michael John Macklin was born on 25 February 1943 in Cricklewood, London, the youngest of four sons born to his Irish father, James Joseph Macklin, and English mother, Vera Alice, née Headley. In 1949 the Macklins migrated to Australia on the SS Ormonde as ‘Ten Pound Poms’ under an assisted passage scheme, and landed in Melbourne. Later that year, the family moved to Ayr,

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MAGUIRE, Graham Ross (1945– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for South Australia, 1983–93 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

MAGUIRE, Graham Ross (1945– )
Senator for South Australia, 1983–93 (Australian Labor Party)

Like a number of Labor members in federal Parliament between 1983 and 1996, Graham Maguire had the good fortune to experience elected politics entirely from the vantage point of government. He entered the Senate well-prepared and throughout his term his steadfast focus on policy issues, especially economic and electoral issues, marked him as a serious thinker who earned the respect of all sides. The

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McKIERNAN, James Philip (1944–2018)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Western Australia, 1985–2002 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

McKIERNAN, James Philip (1944–2018)
Senator for Western Australia, 1985–2002 (Australian Labor Party)

James Philip (Jim) McKiernan, the third of eight children of James and Mary (Maisie) McKiernan, was born on 11 October 1944 in Cavan, Ireland. From the age of six he attended De La Salle College run by the Christian Brothers but left at the age of twelve, blaming brutal and humiliating treatment that he had received at the hands of one of the brothers.

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McLEAN, Paul Alexander (1937– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for New South Wales, 1987–91 (Australian Democrats)</span>

McLEAN, Paul Alexander (1937– )
Senator for New South Wales, 1987–91 (Australian Democrats)

‘Although I was not raised in poverty, I saw enough of it to understand it’ admitted Paul Alexander McLean. Born to Harold Penrose McLean and Kathleen McLean, née Collins, on 13 March 1937 in the Lake Macquarie suburb of Belmont in the Hunter region of NSW, he was raised by parents—’a coal miner and … the daughter of a tin miner’—who instilled in their

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MESSNER, Anthony John (1939– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for South Australia, 1975–90 (Liberal Party of Australia)</span>

MESSNER, Anthony John (1939– )
Senator for South Australia, 1975–90 (Liberal Party of Australia)

Anthony John (Tony) Messner was born in East Melbourne on 24 September 1939, the only child of Colin Thomas Messner, bank officer, and Thelma Doreen Messner, née Virgo. Messner’s parents originally came from South Australia, but his father’s employment with the Bank of Adelaide resulted in the family moving between Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth during his early life. Tony Messner was educated at

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MORRIS, John Joseph (1936–2013)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for New South Wales, 1985–90 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

MORRIS, John Joseph (1936–2013)
Senator for New South Wales, 1985–90 (Australian Labor Party)

John Joseph Morris was born at Young Wallsend (now known as Edgeworth, a suburb of Newcastle), NSW, on 12 June 1936, the youngest of six children of Thomas Wallace Hope Morris, a boilermaker, and his wife Minnie Doreen, née Gavin. His paternal grandfather, also Thomas Morris, had served as an alderman of Fairfield Municipal Council and was described as ‘a keen follower of the

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NEWMAN, Jocelyn Margaret (1937– 2018)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Tasmania, 1986–2002 (Liberal Party of Australia)</span>

NEWMAN, Jocelyn Margaret (1937– 2018)
Senator for Tasmania, 1986–2002 (Liberal Party of Australia)

Jocelyn Margaret Mullett (later Newman), was born in Melbourne on 8 July 1937, the eldest of three surviving children of Lyndhurst Mullett, solicitor, and his wife Margaret, née Maughan, a comptometrist. She was educated at Mont Albert Central School and Presbyterian Ladies’ College. At the University of Melbourne she was active in student politics, co-edited the student newspaper, Farrago, was elected ‘Miss University’ in

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O’CHEE, William George (1965– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Queensland, 1990–99 (National Party of Australia)</span>

O’CHEE, William George (1965– )
Senator for Queensland, 1990–99 (National Party of Australia)

Bill O’Chee was an unconventional parliamentarian: at twenty-four years of age he was the youngest person to sit in the Senate, the first with Chinese ancestry to be elected to the federal Parliament, and he was an Australian representative in world championship skeleton races, an extreme one-person form of bobsledding. O’Chee sometimes sported a bright pink tie and drove an expensive Lotus Elise sports

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OLSEN, John Wayne (1945– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for South Australia, 1990–92 (Liberal Party of Australia)</span>

OLSEN, John Wayne (1945– )
Senator for South Australia, 1990–92 (Liberal Party of Australia)

John Wayne Olsen, Liberal Party Premier of South Australia 1996–2001, served two years in the Senate from 7 May 1990, when he filled a casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Tony Messner. A colourful backgrounder in the Australian on 29 November 1996, the day after he became Premier of South Australia, argued that there was a defining moment in Olsen’s life when

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PANIZZA, John Horace (1931–1997)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Western Australia, 1987–97 (Liberal Party of Australia; Independent Liberal)

PANIZZA, John Horace (1931–1997)
Senator for Western Australia, 1987–97 (Liberal Party of Australia; Independent Liberal)

John Horace Panizza was born on 23 March 1931 at Southern Cross, Western Australia, the eldest child of Bortolo (Robert) Panizza, a farmer, and his wife Caterina Cristina, née Della Bona. Born in Italy, Panizza’s parents came to Australia in 1921. Robert Panizza initially cut sugar cane in Ingham, Queensland, from where he went on to work in the mines near Broken Hill and

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PARER, Warwick (1936– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Queensland, 1984–2000 (Liberal Party of Australia)</span>

PARER, Warwick (1936– )
Senator for Queensland, 1984–2000 (Liberal Party of Australia)

Warwick Parer, entrepreneur, businessman and politician, was born in Wau, Papua New Guinea on 6 April 1936, son of Kevin Parer and his wife Annie (Nance), née McGahan. The Parers were pioneers of the timber, mining and aviation industries in New Guinea, where Kevin founded an airline, Parer’s Air Transport. Kevin Parer was reported to have been the first Australian to die at the

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POWELL, Janet Frances (1942–2013)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1986–93 (Australian Democrats, Independent)</span>

POWELL, Janet Frances (1942–2013)
Senator for Victoria, 1986–93 (Australian Democrats, Independent)

Janet Frances McDonald (later Powell), was born in Nhill, Victoria, on 29 September 1942, the second of three children of Colin George McDonald and his wife Frances May, née Kilpatrick. Her parents were wheat and sheep farmers at the small town of Propodollah in north-western Victoria. Janet attended the local primary school until it closed, then continued her education at Nhill Primary School, Queen’s

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PUPLICK, Christopher John Guelph (1948– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for NSW, 1978–1981, 1985–1990 (Liberal Party of Australia)</span>

PUPLICK, Christopher John Guelph (1948– )
Senator for NSW, 1978–1981, 1985–1990 (Liberal Party of Australia)

On 20 September 1978, Chris Puplick, then the youngest Australian senator since World War II, rose to make his first speech in the Senate, and declared that ‘There is no finer tradition in the history of mankind than the Liberal tradition’. As a believer ‘above all in the individual, in diversity, in tolerance, and in caring about my fellow creatures’, he ‘could be only

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REYNOLDS, Margaret (1941– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Queensland, 1982–99 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

REYNOLDS, Margaret (1941– )
Senator for Queensland, 1982–99 (Australian Labor Party)

Margaret Reynolds, activist, educator and author, was born Margaret Lyne, in Hobart on 19 July 1941, the only child of Walter Rodis (Rod) Lyne and his wife Jess, née Montgomery, a teacher. Rod Lyne, who worked on his father’s farm before serving with the Australian Army in New Guinea, died in 1947. During the war Jess took Margaret to Launceston to live near her

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RICHARDSON, Graham Frederick (1949– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for New South Wales, 1983–94 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

RICHARDSON, Graham Frederick (1949– )
Senator for New South Wales, 1983–94 (Australian Labor Party)

Graham Frederick Richardson, whose words over the telephone or across restaurant tables would make and unmake several political careers including his own, was born in Sydney on 27 September 1949, the only surviving child of Frederick James Richardson, a senior clerk in the Postmaster General’s Department, and his wife Catherine Maud (Peggy), née Graham. He grew up in Allawah and Kogarah, typical postwar suburbs

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SANDERS, Norman Karl (1932– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Tasmania, 1985–90 (Australian Democrats)</span>

SANDERS, Norman Karl (1932– )
Senator for Tasmania, 1985–90 (Australian Democrats)

Norman Karl (Norm) Sanders was born in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, on 15 October 1932, elder child of Karl Wilhelm Sanders, a commercial artist born in Riga, Latvia, and his wife Mary Doris, née Schenck, teacher and journalist. His family later lived in Chicago before settling in Los Angeles, where Sanders attended Florence Nightingale Junior High School. He received little emotional support from his parents,

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SCHACHT, Christopher Cleland (1946– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for South Australia, 1987–2002 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

SCHACHT, Christopher Cleland (1946– )
Senator for South Australia, 1987–2002 (Australian Labor Party)

Christopher Cleland Schacht was born on 6 December 1946 in Melbourne, the only child of Lloyd Christopher and Mary Cleland Schacht, née Timcke. In the early 1860s his great-grandfather, Heinrich Schacht, arrived in Brisbane from Schleswig-Holstein, a disputed border province between Prussia and Denmark; another descendant was Peter Shack, former Liberal MP for Tangney, WA. Chris Schacht grew up in Gippsland, Victoria, where the

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SHORT, James Robert (1936– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1985–97 (Liberal Party of Australia)</span>

SHORT, James Robert (1936– )
Senator for Victoria, 1985–97 (Liberal Party of Australia)

James (Jim) Robert Short was born on 7 December 1936 at Shepparton, Victoria, the youngest of three children of George Short, a surveyor with the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission, and his wife, Elsie, née Hearn. At the outbreak of World War II the family moved to Wangaratta when George Short was seconded to head the local branch of the wartime Manpower Directorate.

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SIBRAA, Kerry Walter (1937– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for New South Wales, 1975–78, 1978–94 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

SIBRAA, Kerry Walter (1937– )
Senator for New South Wales, 1975–78, 1978–94 (Australian Labor Party)

Kerry Walter Sibraa was born in Sydney on 12 October 1937, the only son of teachers Edna May, née Williams, and Arthur Francis Sibraa. Kerry attended state primary schools at Condoblin, Ungarie, Shortland and Newcastle, following his father’s moves between schools as a teacher and headmaster. He began his secondary education at Newcastle Boys’ High School and then moved to North Sydney Boys’ High

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SPINDLER, Siegfried Emil (1932–2008)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1990–96 (Australian Democrats)</span>

SPINDLER, Siegfried Emil (1932–2008)
Senator for Victoria, 1990–96 (Australian Democrats)

Siegfried Emil (Sid) Spindler, businessman, lawyer and philanthropist, was born on 9 July 1932 at Lodz, Poland. He was the son of Oskar Karl Spindler, business manager, and Gertrud Alma Spindler, née Bernewitz. Sid Spindler’s life was shaped by his experiences in occupied Poland during World War II. The Spindler family were Volksdeutsche, ethnic Germans who held Polish citizenship and lived within a multicultural

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STONE, John Owen (1929– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Queensland, 1987–90 (National Party of Australia)</span>

STONE, John Owen (1929– )
Senator for Queensland, 1987–90 (National Party of Australia)

John Stone was one of the most outspoken and controversial figures in Australian public life. When head of the Treasury during the late 1970s and early 1980s he was widely regarded as Australia’s leading public servant. In 1978 the journalist Paul Kelly described Stone as one of the two men who ran the nation (Prime Minister Fraser was the other). To his admirers he

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TAMBLING, Grant Ernest John (1943– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Northern Territory, 1987–2001 (Country Liberal Party)</span>

TAMBLING, Grant Ernest John (1943– )
Senator for Northern Territory, 1987–2001 (Country Liberal Party)

Grant Ernest John Tambling, the eldest of three children and known to his friends as ‘Tambo’, was born at Wondai, near Kingaroy, Queensland, on 20 June 1943. His parents, Ernest ‘Tam’ Tambling, and Edna, née Williamson, both schoolteachers, had married in Darwin in 1941, and returned there in 1946 after Ernest had completed army service at bases in New South Wales and Queensland. Grant

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TATE, Michael Carter (1945– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Tasmania, 1978–93 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

TATE, Michael Carter (1945– )
Senator for Tasmania, 1978–93 (Australian Labor Party)

Michael Carter Tate was born in Sydney, New South Wales, on 6 July 1945, eldest child of William Arthur Tate and his wife Wilma Ellen, née Carter. His father was originally from Tasmania, and after eleven years in Western Australia and New South Wales, was transferred back to Tasmania as an accountant with the Caltex oil company, and the family settled in Hobart. Michael

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TEAGUE, Baden Chapman (1944– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for South Australia, 1978–96 (Liberal Party of Australia)</span>

TEAGUE, Baden Chapman (1944– )
Senator for South Australia, 1978–96 (Liberal Party of Australia)

Baden Chapman Teague was born on 18 September 1944 at the Ashford Hospital, Adelaide. A fifth-generation Australian, he was the second of three children of Colin Archibald Teague, a builder, and his wife Nita Kathleen, née Readett. While growing up in the suburbs of Glenelg and Somerton Park, Baden Teague was educated at local primary schools and at St Peter’s College, Adelaide, (1955–62), where

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VALLENTINE, Josephine (1946– )<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Western Australia, 1985–92 (Nuclear Disarmament Party; Independent; Greens WA)</span>

VALLENTINE, Josephine (1946– )
Senator for Western Australia, 1985–92 (Nuclear Disarmament Party; Independent; Greens WA)

Josephine (Jo) Vallentine was born on 30 May 1946 in the wheatbelt town of Beverley, east of Perth, one of five children of Oswald Robert Vallentine, a farmer, and his wife Sylvia Cyclone, née Miles. Jo attributed her desire to make a difference in the world to several influences. She regarded both her grandfathers as ‘the types to make things happen’ and was impressed

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WALSH, Peter Alexander (1935–2015)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Western Australia, 1974–93 (Australian Labor Party)

WALSH, Peter Alexander (1935–2015)
Senator for Western Australia, 1974–93 (Australian Labor Party)

Peter Alexander Walsh was born on 11 March 1935 at Kellerberrin in the central wheat belt of Western Australia. He was the second son of Robert Walsh and his wife, Dorothy, née Ray, both of whom had come from Victoria in 1930 to lease and work a wheat and sheep farm at Doodlakine, also in the WA wheat belt. Peter completed his primary schooling

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WALTERS, Mary Shirley (1925–2017)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Tasmania, 1975–93 (Liberal Party of Australia)</span>

WALTERS, Mary Shirley (1925–2017)
Senator for Tasmania, 1975–93 (Liberal Party of Australia)

Mary Shirley Harrison (known as Shirley) was born in Sydney on 31 August 1925, the second of three daughters of Eric John and Mary Cook Harrison, née McCall. She and her two sisters grew up at the family home in the Sydney suburb of Rose Bay. Shirley had a comfortable childhood—her father was a successful businessman, managing a large textile factory, and in 1931

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