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Research Note no. 30 2005–06
Members of the Commonwealth Parliament with war service
Martin Lumb and Scott
Bennett
Politics and Public Administration Section
19 April 2006
Serving their country
It is a noteworthy aspect of the history of the various
Australian parliaments that many of their members saw active service in
times of war. The Commonwealth Parliament is no exception to this. In
the case of Commonwealth MPs elected before 1970, a remarkably high percentage
experienced war service—some before entering Parliament, some while they
were members, and some after they had left the Parliament. Although the
total number is uncertain,(1) at least 285 (18.5 per cent)
of the total membership of the Parliament gave war service at some stage
of their lives. Some of these served in more than one conflict.
The Parliamentary Library is aware of at least 14 MPs
who served in colonial wars before Federation. At least 123 served in
World War I—approximately one-third of the 1946–9 Parliament were WWI
veterans. At least 169 MPs served in World War II—approximately half of
the 1963–66 Parliament were WWII veterans (Fig. 1).
At least two MPs served in Korea and six in Vietnam.
Senator Andrew Murray (AD, WA since 1996) served in the Rhodesian Air
Force during the civil war of the 1970s.
At least 30 MPs participated in more than one conflict.
The number of MPs in Parliament with war service reached
a peak between 1955 and 1969 with over half the Parliament during that
time having some form of war service (Fig.2). In fact, in the early 1960s
there were still two Boer War (1899–1902) veterans in the Parliament—Donald
Cameron (Senator, ALP, Vic 1938–62) and George Lawson (ALP, Brisbane 1931–61).
Figure 1 shows the approximate number of Commonwealth
MPs with war service, and Figure 2 depicts the approximate percentage.
Among the many
As might be expected, the background and experience
of MPs who served, varied greatly:
- Cyril Cameron (Senator, Protectionist, Tas 1901–03, 1907–13) took
part in the march to Kandahar, 1880
- Stanley Bruce (Nationalist/United Australia, Flinders 1918–29, 1931–3)
was wounded at Gallipoli, 1915
- Harold (Pompey) Elliott (Senator, Nationalist, Vic 1919–31) served
in both the Boer War and WWI
- Ted Mattner (Senator, Liberal SA 1944–6, 1950–68) MC, DCM, MM, fought
at the Somme, Pozieres, Bullecourt, Messines, Ypres and Menin Road.
- Fred Osborne (Liberal, Evans 1949–61) was a decorated naval commander
in WWII
- John Gorton (Senator, Liberal, Vic 1949–68, Higgins 1968–75) RAAF
pilot, was wounded in WWII
- Sir Wilfred Kent-Hughes (Liberal, Chisholm 1949–70), was captured
in Malaya, and was a prisoner of war 1942–5
- Tom Uren (ALP, Reid, 1958–90) a prisoner of war 1942–5, worked on
the Burma/Thailand Railway
- David Thomson (NCP, Leichhardt 1975–83), served in WWII, Japan after
the war and Korea in 1951
- Graham Edwards (ALP, Cowan since 1998) lost his legs to a land mine
in Vietnam, 1970.
Victoria Cross
- Neville Howse (Nationalist, Calare, 1922–9) won the Victoria Cross
in South Africa in 1900 for heroism in rescuing a wounded comrade.
The ultimate sacrifice
Two MPs lost their lives in wartime action:
- William Johnson (ALP, Robertson, 1910–13) died of gunshot wounds,
Etaples, France, 30 July 1916
- Arnold Wienholt (Nationalist/Country, Wide Bay 1919–22) served in
the Boer War and WWI. He was assumed killed in action, Ethiopia, 10
September 1940.
1. All figures are approximate due to the incompleteness
of Parliamentary records.
Figure 2: Percentage of Commonwealth MPs with war service
For copyright reasons some linked items are only available to
members of Parliament.
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