William John Patrick McCarthy (22 May 1923 – 25 April 1987) was an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

, representing

Armidale Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 24,504 as of June 2018. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands region. It ...

from 1978 to 1981, and

Northern Tablelands The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England regio ...

from 1981 to 1987. McCarthy married Thelma on 8 March 1945, with whom had have three children. He served as a flying officer in the

RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

before becoming a grazier in 1959. From 1970 to 1978 he was a field officer with the Community Development and Extension Division. In 1978, McCarthy was the Labor candidate for the Country Party-held state seat of

; he narrowly defeated sitting MP

David Leitch David Leitch (born November 16, 1975) is an American filmmaker, actor, stunt performer and stunt coordinator who made his directorial debut on the 2014 action film ''John Wick'' with Chad Stahelski, though only Stahelski was credited. Leitch the ...

to win the seat. In 1981 the seat was abolished, and McCarthy contested the new seat of

, which was essentially a merger of the old seats of Armidale and

Tenterfield Tenterfield is a regional town in New South Wales, Australia. At the , Tenterfield had a population of 4,066. Tenterfield's proximity to many regional centres and its position on the route between Sydney and Brisbane led to its development as a ...

. Although the new seat had a notional National Country Party majority, McCarthy was elected. McCarthy resigned due to ill health on 22 April 1987 and died 3 days later. His widow Thelma was the Labor candidate in the resulting by-election but was defeated by National Party candidate

Ray Chappell Raymond Francis Chappell (born 11 September 1942) is a former Australian politician. He was the National Party member for Northern Tablelands in the New South Wales Parliament from 1987 to 1999, and served as a minister from 1993 to 1995. Chap ...

References

1923 births 1987 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians People from Armidale Royal Australian Air Force officers 20th-century Australian military personnel {{Australia-Labor-NewSouthWales-MP-stub