John Don

John Don MBE (10 September 1918 1 April 2013) was an Australian politician.

John Don
Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
for Elsternwick
In office
10 November 1945  27 May 1955
Preceded byDistrict created
Succeeded byRichard Gainey
Personal details
Born(1918-09-10)10 September 1918
Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
Died1 April 2013(2013-04-01) (aged 94)
Political partyLiberal Party
Liberal and Country Party
Victorian Liberal Party
SpouseJoan Davies
ChildrenThree daughters
Alma materUniversity of Melbourne
ProfessionSolicitor
Military service
AllegianceAustralia
Branch/serviceAustralian Imperial Force
Years of service1940–1946
RankMajor
Unit9th Division Cavalry Regiment
British Intelligence Corps
AwardsMBE (1943)

He was born in Ballarat to solicitor Joseph Edwin Don and Mary Minnie Cross. He attended various state schools before studying at Melbourne University. During World War II he served in the Middle East and later the Philippines, attaining the rank of major and being awarded the MBE. On 9 March 1943, he married Joan Yvonne Davies, with whom he had three daughters.

In 1945, Don was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the Liberal member for Elsternwick, while he was still studying law (he would be admitted as a solicitor in 1954). He was briefly a minister without portfolio in June 1950. A supporter of Thomas Hollway, he was one of the rebels who voted against the McDonald Country Party government in 1952 and served as Minister of Transport and Labour in the seventy-hour ministry that resulted. Expelled from the Liberal Party, he was defeated as an Electoral Reform League candidate in 1955. A solicitor after leaving parliament, he later rejoined the Liberal Party. Don died in 2013.[1]

References

  1. Parliament of Victoria (2001). "Don, John". re-member: a database of all Victorian MPs since 1851. Parliament of Victoria. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.