Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Melbourne - Arthur Calwell (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Arthur Augustus Calwell (28 August 1896 8 July 1973) Australian politician, was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for 32 years from 1940 to 1972, Immigration Minister in the government of Ben Chifley from 1945 to 1949 and Leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1960 to 1967. Calwell was born in Melbourne. His father was a police officer of Irish descent, and both father and son were active in Melbourne's Irish community (including membership of the Celtic Club). His mother was of Irish-American descent. A gifted high school student, Calwell was a devout Roman Catholic and joined the Australian Labor Party in his youth. Lacking the resources to pursue a university education, Calwell became a clerk in the Victorian Public Service, in which he worked for the Department of Agriculture and the State Treasury. Calwell served as President of the Victorian Branch of the Australian Public Sector Association (the union representing Victorian Public Service employees) from 1927 to 1931. Calwell in 1940Active and energetic in the Labor Party, Calwell was elected President of the Victorian Labor Party in 1931. He was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the seat of Melbourne in 1940. During World War II, Calwell served as Minister for Information in John Curtin's Labor government, and became well-known for his tough attitude towards the Australian press and his strict enforcement of wartime censorship. This earned him the enmity of large sections of the Australian Press, and he was dubbed "Cocky" Calwell by his political foes, cartoonists of the period depicting him as an obstinate Australian cockatoo. In 1945, Calwell became Minister for Immigration in Ben Chifley's post-war Labor government. Thus, he was the chief a... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=251527