Clive Geoffrey Osborne (18 March 1923 – 25 March 1998) was an Australian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He was a Country Party/ National 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 ...

from 1967 to 1981, representing the electorate of Bathurst.

Private life

Osborne was the son of Edward Osborne, a carpenter, and his wife Harriett Rose Osborne.

Early years

Educated at Bathurst Primary School and Bathurst High School and Bathurst College of

Technical and Further Education Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational cours ...

; Osborne had active military duty 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 in the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

during 1939 to 1945. He entered family furniture business in 1946 and was a reporter on Bathurst's local newspaper, ''The Western Advocate''. In 1959, Osborne purchased properties at Duramana, north of Bathurst, and became a farmer. Osborne was President of the Bathurst branch of the Returned Services League (Returned Serviceman's League) between 1959 and 1973. He was a Member of the Bathurst Land Board between 1960 and 1967, and a Member of Bathurst Legacy from 1961. His recreational interests include hockey and swimming and was President of the Bathurst Men's Hockey Association.

New South Wales state politics

Osborne was endorsed as the Country Party candidate for the seat of Bathurst at the 1965 State election, running against sitting Labor Member,

Gus Kelly Gustavus William Francis Blake Kelly (2 April 1877 – 16 August 1951) was an Irish cricketer. A right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast bowler, he played 18 times for the Ireland cricket team between 1895 and 1914 including nine first-cla ...

. Osborne was unsuccessful, winning 28.5 per cent of the vote in a three-cornered contest which saw Kelly re-elected. Following the death of Kelly (who held the seat for nearly forty years), a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

was held in 1967, and Osborne was elected on Liberal Party preferences. Osborne was re-elected at 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 ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

and

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

State elections. Osborne contested the 1981 election, representing the National Country Party (as the Country Party was then known). An electoral redistribution had moved the solid Labor voting town of Lithgow from Blue Mountains to Bathurst, making Bathurst a notional Labor seat. The Labor Member for Blue Mountains,

Mick Clough Ralph James "Mick" Clough (22 October 1927 – 12 August 2008) was an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1976 to 1981, representing the electorate of Blue Mountains and represen ...

moved seat to contest Bathurst and won with a margin of 0.05%. Osborne unsuccessfully contested the 1984 election in an unusual move where the National Party (following another name change) endorsed two candidates. During his time in Parliament, Osborne was a strong proponent of

decentralisation Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group. Conce ...

programs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, Clive National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1923 births 1998 deaths 20th-century Australian politicians Royal Australian Navy personnel of World War II