Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

Sir Charles Benjamin Cutler KBE, ED (20 April 1918 – 23 September 2006) was an Australian politician, holding office for 28 years as an elected 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 ...

for

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

. Cutler was Country Party leader for sixteen years and became Minister for Education and

Deputy Premier A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

for ten years under

Premiers Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Robert Askin Sir Robert William Askin, GCMG (4 April 1907 – 9 September 1981), was an Australian politician and the 32nd Premier of New South Wales from 1965 to 1975, the first representing the Liberal Party. He was born in 1907 as Robin William Askin, but ...

and Tom Lewis.

Early life

Charles Cutler was born in

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

in 1918, the son of George Cutler and Elizabeth Booth Cutler. His cousin, Sir Arthur Roden Cutler, was a

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

recipient and a long-serving

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the ...

. Charles' ministerial service including as Deputy Premier commenced the year before his cousin's appointment as governor, meaning that Charles was in the cabinet that recommended Roden as governor to the Queen and that later Charles was sworn in as a minister in by his governor cousin. At an early age, Charles moved to the nearby regional city of

with his family, where he was educated at Orange Rural School and Orange High School. After completing his schooling he gained employment from 1934 until 1939 as an office worker with the Producers Co-Operative Distributing Society Limited of Orange.

Military service

Cutler served in

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 ...

, first as a member of the

Citizens Military Force The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citizens Forces, the Citizen ...

(CMF; now known as the Australian Army Reserve) from 1938 to 1940. He went on to serve with the 2nd Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF) from 1940 until 1945 and also the 2/17th Battalion in Tobruk and Syria. He was wounded at

El Alamein El Alamein ( ar, العلمين, translit=al-ʿAlamayn, lit=the two flags, ) is a town in the northern Matrouh Governorate of Egypt. Located on the Arab's Gulf, Mediterranean Sea, it lies west of Alexandria and northwest of Cairo. , it had ...

. Following the war, Charles Cutler was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the CMF from 1948 to 1960 at which time he transferred to the Reserve Forces. Cutler was awarded the Efficiency Decoration (ED) in 1959.

Personal life

Charles Cutler married Dorothy Pascoe on 4 March 1943 in the Holy Trinity Church at Orange; they had one daughter and three sons. Following World War II, Cutler returned to his employment at Producers Co-operative Distributing Society Limited in Orange from 1946 to 1947. During this time, he was also a sportswriter for the ''Bathurst Times'' newspaper. He also became the vice-president of the Orange Returned Serviceman's League Club and also president of the Orange Apex Club and district rugby union.

Political career

Charles Cutler joined the Country Party in 1944. He was elected as the Member for the

Electoral district of Orange Orange is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is a regional electorate that covers four local government areas in their entirety: the City of Orange, Cabonne Council, Parkes Shire and ...

at the

on 3 May 1947. He was re-elected in 1950, 1953, 1956, 1959, 1962, 1965, 1968, 1971 and 1973 – ten times in total. In 1958, he was elected as the Deputy Leader of the Country Party, and in 1959, he became party leader, a position he held for 16 years. On 13 May 1965, he became Deputy Premier, Minister for Education and Minister for Science under the newly elected

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 ...

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

, in NSW's first non-Labor government in 24 years. In later years, he also held portfolios as Minister for Local Government, Minister for Highways and Minister for Tourism. For several months in 1968 and 1972, he was Acting Premier and Treasurer in Askin's absence. He remained as Deputy Premier for most of 1975 under Tom Lewis after Askin's retirement that year. In 1973, Cutler was appointed 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 ...

(KBE). In 1974, Sir Charles led New South Wales at the Premier's Conference and Loan Council. On 16 December 1975, Sir Charles retired from the New South Wales Parliament after serving continuously as a member for 28 years, 7 months and 14 days.

Later life

Sir Charles Cutler retired to his home at Orange. He became a member of the Former Members of New South Wales Parliament Association. From 1976 to 1978, he was a director of the

Sun Alliance Insurance Sun Alliance Group plc was a large insurance business with its main offices in the City of London and later Horsham. It was created in 1959 by the merger of Sun Insurance, founded in 1710, and Alliance Assurance founded in 1824. In 1996 Sun Allia ...

Group. From 1978 to 1988, he was the Chairman of that organisation. Sir Charles, who had been suffering from cancer, died at the age of 88 on 23 September 2006 in hospital in

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 ...

National Party Leader

Andrew Stoner Andrew John Stoner (born 14 January 1960), an Australian former politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Oxley from 1999 state election to 2015. Stoner was the Leader of the New South Wales National P ...

said that Sir Charles Cutler's commitment to building stronger rural communities was legendary. "He was responsible for creating a separate Department of Decentralisation and Development and helping strengthen country communities through the establishment of a Country Industries Assistance Fund." Former Nationals Leader and Deputy Prime Minister

Tim Fischer Timothy Andrew Fischer (3 May 1946 – 22 August 2019) was an Australian politician and diplomat who served as leader of the National Party from 1990 to 1999. He was Deputy Prime Minister in the Howard Government from 1996 to 1999. Fischer ...

, who served under Sir Charles Cutler, says his contribution to education and infrastructure in rural areas was underestimated. "He made a giant contribution to the educational resources of the state of New South Wales," Mr Fischer said.

Honours

Cutler was appointed a

(KBE) in the Civil division on 1 January 1973 for service as Deputy Premier of New South Wales. On 1 January 2001, Cutler was awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...

for service to Australian society through parliament.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cutler, Charles 1918 births 2006 deaths People educated at Orange High School (New South Wales) Australian Anglicans Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian colonels Australian corporate directors Journalists from New South Wales Australian sports journalists Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Deputy Premiers of New South Wales Australian Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Australian politicians awarded knighthoods Recipients of the Centenary Medal Deaths from cancer in New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians People from Orange, New South Wales