William Gordon Young (28 August 1918 – 21 April 2012) was an Australian politician who was a Country Party member of the Legislative Assembly of

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 ...

between 1967 and 1974, representing the seat of Roe. Born 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 ...

to Alice (née Nicholls) and Arthur James Young, Young attended Claremont High School in the city's western suburbs. He then worked briefly as a clerk with an insurance agency, before going to the small Wheatbelt town of Kondinin to farm. He enlisted in the

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

in November 1940, and as a

flight lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the India ...

saw service in Egypt, Singapore, India, and Burma, flying bombers. Returning to Australia in March 1944, he was briefly stationed at RAAF Evans Head, a training school, and then worked for the Australian intelligence service until the war's end. While in Perth in May 1944, Young married Amy Doreen Pond, with whom he later had three children. A keen

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

, he played senior football for during the 1945 WANFL season, and continued with the Kondinin Football Club in the Merredin Districts Football League after returning there in late 1945. Young was elected to the Kondinin Road Board (later the

Shire of Kondinin The Shire of Kondinin is a local government area in the eastern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, about east of the state capital, Perth. The Shire's land area of forms a narrow east-west band, located between the Shire of Narembeen to ...

) in 1954, and served as its chairman from 1959 until 1967, when he stood for the by-election in Roe necessitated by the resignation of the sitting Country member, Tom Hart. His only opponent was

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

candidate Mel Bungey, who was later elected to the federal

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 ...

. Young's majority decreased at both the

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

and 1971 state elections, and at the latter poll the final margin between him and the next-best candidate,

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Leonard Gleeson, was less than 200 votes – Young finished with 51.32% of the

two-candidate preferred In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...

vote. Young was chairman of the state Country Party from 1971 and 1974, and in July 1973, following Sir

Crawford Nalder Sir Crawford David Nalder (14 February 1910 – 8 December 1994) was an Australian politician who served as Deputy Premier of Western Australia from 1962 to 1971. He was leader of the Country Party in Western Australia from 1962 to 1973. Nalde ...

's retirement, was elected deputy leader, replacing the new leader,

Ray McPharlin Walter Raymond McPharlin (21 February 1916 – 13 July 1991) was the Country Party member for Mount Marshall in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1967 to 1983. He played football for East Fremantle from 1938 to 1939 and in 1 ...

. A member of various parliamentary committees, Young lost his seat to the Liberal candidate, Geoff Grewar, at the 1974 election. In a three-cornered contest between Labor, the Liberals, and the National Alliance (a brief merger of the Country Party and the Democratic Labor Party), Young received 43.35% on first preferences, but could only gain 48.24% of the final count as the vast majority of Labor preferences flowed to the Liberals. After leaving parliament, Young was chairman of the board of

Claremont Teachers College Claremont Teachers College was Western Australia’s first post-secondary teaching institution. It opened in 1902 and closed in 1981, when it became a College of Advanced Education and later a campus of Edith Cowan University. The building is on ...

(later the Western Australian College of Advanced Education), and was also involved with the National Parks Authority. He died in

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, a suburb of Perth, in April 2012, aged 93.William Gordon Young
– Metropolitan Cemeteries Board. Retrieved 19 March 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Bill 1918 births 2012 deaths Military personnel from Western Australia Australian Anglicans Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Australian World War II pilots Claremont Football Club players National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia Mayors of places in Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Politicians from Perth, Western Australia Royal Australian Air Force officers Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Shire of Kondinin Western Australian local councillors