William Charles Campbell Bignall Robinson (4 October 1907 – 21 January 1981) was a British-born

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n politician. He was a Country Party member of the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...

from 1952 to 1953. Robinson was born in

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, ne ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and migrated with his family to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

around 1911, after which his family settled on a farm near Williams. Robinson was educated at Tarwonga State School and Northam Senior High School and farmed for many years at Williams. After a stint as acting secretary for the Williams Road Board, he was secretary to the Wandering Road Board from 1937 to 1942. Robinson enlisted in the

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

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, serving as a mechanic from 1942 to 1945. After a brief post-war return to his old role at Wandering, he was secretary of the Pingelly Road Board from 1946 to 1974, having been granted a leave of absence during his Senate term. Robinson was secretary of the Wandering and Pingelly branches and the Narrogin district council of the Country and Democratic League, a member of the wool committee and political executive of the Primary Producers' Association of Western Australia and secretary of the Pingelly Agricultural Society. In 1952, he was appointed to the Senate as a Country Party member, filling the casual vacancy caused by the death of Senator

Edmund Piesse Edmund Stephen Roper Piesse (5 January 1900 – 25 August 1952) was an Australian politician who represented Western Australia in the Senate from 1950 until his death. He was a member of the Country Party. Piesse was born in Katanning, W ...

. He was preselected in the unwinnable fourth position on the combined Liberal-Country ticket for the 1953 election, but was defeated. He later attempted to enter state politics as a Country and Democratic League candidate for the Legislative Assembly seat of Narrogin in 1956 and the Legislative Council in 1960, but was defeated both times. Robinson died in 1981 in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

and was cremated at

Karrakatta Cemetery Karrakatta Cemetery is a metropolitan cemetery in the suburb of Karrakatta in Perth, Western Australia. Karrakatta Cemetery first opened for burials in 1899, the first being that of wheelwright Robert Creighton. Managed by the Metropolitan Ce ...

References

1907 births 1981 deaths National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for Western Australia Members of the Australian Senate British emigrants to Australia 20th-century Australian politicians Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Australian Air Force airmen {{Australia-National-politician-stub