Andrew George "Bill" Eaton (29 November 1931 – 22 May 2011) was an Australian politician. He was a Member of the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...

Early life

Eaton was born in

Gilgandra Gilgandra is a country town in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia, and services the surrounding agricultural area where wheat is grown extensively together with other cereal crops, and sheep and beef cattle are raised. Sitting at t ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

to Cyril Allan Dudley Eaton and Mary Catherine, ''née'' O'Donohue. He attended Dobies Bight State School and St Mary's Convent in

Casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

. In 1931 he married Shirley Daw Boothman; they had four children, but Shirley died of

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

shortly after their fourth child's birth. Eaton worked as a labourer, fencer, timber cutter, stationhand and machinery operator, and from 1963 he was the leading hand of a live-line gang with the Far North Queensland Electricity Board.

Politics

In 1980, Eaton was elected to the

as the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member for Mourilyan. In 1983 he was promoted to the front bench as Opposition Spokesman for Water Resources and Maritime Services, and upon Labor's victory in 1989 he became Minister for Land Management. His seat was abolished in 1992 and largely merged with the neighbouring

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

-held seat of Hinchinbrook. The merged seat was notionally Labor-held, but Eaton lost a close contest to National's

Marc Rowell Marcus Hosking "Marc" Rowell (5 April 1938 – 13 April 2018) was an Australian politician. Born in Beecroft, New South Wales, he was a cane farmer and fruit grower in Queensland before entering politics. In 1989, he was elected to the Leg ...

Later life

Eaton died on 22 May 2011 in

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eaton, Bill 1931 births 2011 deaths Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly People from New South Wales Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland