Sir Alan Shallcross Hulme KBE (14 February 19079 October 1989) was an Australian politician, accountant and cattle breeder. He was born in the Sydney suburb of

Mosman Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local governm ...

and was educated at North Sydney Boys High School. He moved to Queensland before World War II, where he practised as an accountant. He was a founding member of the

Queensland People's Party The Liberal Party of Australia (Queensland Division), branded as Liberal Queensland, was the Queensland division of the Liberal Party of Australia until 2008. It was initially formed in October 1943 as the Queensland People's Party (QPP), whic ...

and was its president in 1949, when it merged with the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

. Hulme won the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

seat of

Petrie Petrie is a surname of Scottish origin which may refer to: People * Alexander Petrie (died 1662), Scottish minister * Alistair Petrie (born 1970), English actor * Andrew Petrie (1798–1872), Scottish-born builder, architect and first free settle ...

at its creation at the 1949 election for the Liberal Party. He was Minister for Supply from 1958 to his defeat in the 1961 election by Reginald O'Brien. He won Petrie back at the 1963 election and became

Postmaster-General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a Ministry (government department), ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having ...

until his retirement at the 1972 election. He was also

Vice-President of the Executive Council The Vice-President of the Executive Council is the minister in the Government of Australia who acts as the presiding officer of meetings of the Federal Executive Council when the Governor-General is absent. The Vice-President of the Executiv ...

from 1966 to 1972. As Postmaster-General, he was responsible for the introduction of an Australian-owned satellite system in 1970, Aussat, which was later privatised as

Optus Singtel Optus Pty Limited (commonly referred to as Optus) is an Australian Telecommunications in Australia, telecommunications company headquartered in Macquarie Park, New South Wales, Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore, Si ...

. In 1972 he was involved in the decision to impose health warnings on cigarette advertising. He was also responsible for the controversial decision to build

Black Mountain Tower Telstra Tower (also known as Black Mountain Tower and formerly Telecom Tower) is a telecommunications tower and lookout that is situated above the summit of Black Mountain in Australia's capital city of Canberra. It is named after Australia's ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. In 1972 he announced that

colour television Color television or Colour television is a television transmission technology that includes color information for the picture, so the video image can be displayed in color on the television set. It improves on the monochrome or black-and-white t ...

would be introduced in Australia from 1 March 1975, by which time he had retired from politics and his party was out of office. Hulme was made a Knight Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in January 1971. He died in 1989, survived by two sons and a daughter.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hulme, Alan Shallcross 1907 births 1989 deaths Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Petrie Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Cabinet of Australia Australian Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Australian politicians awarded knighthoods Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Queensland People's Party politicians Politicians from Sydney Australian accountants 20th-century Australian politicians People educated at North Sydney Boys High School