Australian politician (1891?1962)
Sir Duncan Ross McLarty
,
KBE
,
MM
(17 March 1891 ? 22 December 1962) was an Australian politician and the 17th
Premier of Western Australia
.
Early life
[
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]
McLarty was born in
Pinjarra, Western Australia
, the youngest of seven children of
Edward McLarty
, a farmer and grazier and member of the
Western Australian Legislative Council
, and his wife Mary Jane, nee Campbell. He attended Pinjarra State School and the
Perth Boys' High School
.
On 12 January 1916 he enlisted in the
Australian Imperial Force
at the
Blackboy Hill
depot. On 27 March he was promoted to corporal and assigned to the
44th Battalion
, arriving in England on 21 July. The 44th Battalion departed England for the
Western Front
on 25 November 1916. McLarty was promoted to
sergeant
on 29 March 1917. In June 1918, McLarty was awarded the
Military Medal
for "bravery in the field" on 25 January 1918 at
Passchendaele
.
[1]
[2]
[3]
McLarty was commissioned on 1 May 1918 as a second lieutenant and was promoted to lieutenant on 1 August. This was the rank he held until being discharged. On 28 August 1918, during the
Second Battle of the Somme
, McLarty was wounded in the left hand.
[1]
While convalescing in London he had a chance meeting with his brother Douglas who was serving with the 16th Battalion.
[2]
: p158
After the war, McLarty returned to farming at Pinjarra and married Violet Olive Margaret Herron on 25 October 1922. He served as a
justice of the peace
from 1925 and belonged to the
Returned Sailors', Soldiers' and Airmen's Imperial League of Australia
.
Parliamentary career
[
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]
He campaigned in the
1930 state election
as a
Nationalist
candidate with the slogan 'A practical farmer for a farming electorate', winning the
lower house
seat of
Murray-Wellington
. At the
1933 election
, the Nationalists were defeated by the
Labor Party
under
Philip Collier
, beginning a 14-year period in opposition for the conservative parties. On 14 December 1946, McLarty succeeded the retired
Robert Ross McDonald
as leader of the newly formed
Liberal Party
, which had amalgamated with the Nationalists.
Premiership
[
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]
The
1947 election
saw the Liberal-Country coalition unexpectedly defeat the
Labor government
of premier
Frank Wise
who had held the position for only two years. For the first time since 1933, the Liberal (formerly Nationalist) group in Parliament was larger than the Country Party's and, under the negotiated coalition agreement, McLarty became premier and the Country Party's
Arthur Watts
became his deputy.
Together with the premiership, he held the Treasury, Housing, Forests and North-West portfolios. His administration coincided with rapid post-war expansion of the Western Australian economy and, in 1950, conducted negotiations with
BP
to develop the
Kwinana Oil Refinery
whose surrounding area subsequently developed into the state's main
industrial district
. His government accepted
federal
funding to establish the State Housing Commission. His premiership was, however, marred by discord between the two coalition parties. He was
knighted
in January 1953 and lost office at the election next month, continuing as opposition leader for another four years until March 1957.
Throughout his parliamentary career, McLarty travelled home to Pinjarra for most weekends. He was chairman of the Murray District Hospital Board and held a number of pastoral investments, including a controlling interest in
Liveringa
station, near
Derby
. He resigned from parliament because of poor health in May 1962 and died in December. McLarty was accorded a
state funeral
and is buried in the Pinjarra cemetery.
See also
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
a
b
"Service record ? Ross McLarty"
.
Service Record, series number-B2455
. Australian War Memorial
. Retrieved
4 July
2008
.
- ^
a
b
Richards, Ronald (2003).
The McLarty Family of Pinjarra
. Nedlands, Western Australia: J. D. McLarty.
ISBN
0-9750632-0-0
.
- ^
The service record does not provide the location of McLarty on 25 January 1918. Passchendaele is sourced from the book, which cites an article in the
South Western Advertiser
10 January 1930. AIF troops would have occupied trenches in the area between the end of the battle in November 1917 and the abandoning of the positions in March 1918.
Further reading
[
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]
- McLarty, D. R. (1951)
The Development of Western Australia
London: Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, United Kingdom Branch "An address given in the rooms of The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (United Kingdom Branch), Westminster Hall, on 20 March 1951, with the Rt. Hon Lord Llewellin, C.B.E., M.C. in the chair" -Inside cover.
- West, K.
Power in the Liberal Party
(Melb, 1965)
- The West Australian
, 13 Feb 1957, 19 May 1962, 24 December 1962
- McLarty, M.
Sir Duncan Ross McLarty, KBE, MM
(State Library of Western Australia)
- McLarty family papers, 1887?1969 (State Library of Western Australia)
- Sir Ross McLarty, political ephemera (PR3597/1-10, State Library of Western Australia)
- Jamieson, R. interviews with R. Doig (transcript, 1984?86, State Library of Western Australia).
- Layman, Lenore
McLarty, Sir Duncan Ross (1891?1962)
Australian Dictionary of Biography ? online edition published by Australian National University
External links
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