Colin Murray "Col" Fisher, OAM (23 January 1923 – 7 July 2003) was an Australian politician. He was the National Party member for

Upper Hunter The Upper Hunter Shire is a local government area in the Upper Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was formed in May 2004 from the Scone Shire and parts of Murrurundi and Merriwa shires. The Mayor of the Upper Hunter Shir ...

in 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 1970 to 1988, and held ministerial positions from 1975 to 1976. Fisher was born in Leura, the son of dairy farmer Leslie Fisher and his wife Florence Lipscomb. He was educated at Seaham Public School,

Sydney Church of England Grammar School , motto_translation = , established = , type = Independent single-sex and co-educational early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school , grades = Early learning ...

and

Hawkesbury Agricultural College Hawkesbury Agricultural College was the first agricultural college in New South Wales, Australia, based in Richmond. It operated from 1891 to 1989. It was established on 10 March 1891, and formally opened by Minister for Mines and Agriculture ...

before running a beef and dairy farm at Jerrys Plains. In 1942 he enlisted in the AIF and served in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

and Celebes, rising to the rank of captain. He left the armed forces in 1946. On 6 January 1949, Fisher married Adrienne Goldring, with whom he had two children. In 1956, Fisher was elected to Patrick's Plains Shire Council. He served on the council until 1970, when the Country Party member for the state seat of

Frank O'Keefe Frank Lionel O'Keefe, AM (6 October 1912 – 21 April 1989) was an Australian politician. Born in Gunnedah, New South Wales, he attended state schools before becoming a farm machinery distributor and oil merchant. He was mayor of Gunnedah Sh ...

, resigned to contest the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

seat of

Paterson Paterson may refer to: People * Paterson (surname) * Paterson (given name) Places Australia *Paterson, New South Wales *Paterson River, New South Wales * Division of Paterson, an electoral district in New South Wales *Paterson, Queensland, a lo ...

. Fisher was selected as the Country candidate for the by-election, and narrowly defeated Labor candidate

Roger Nott Roger Bede Nott (20 October 1908 – 28 September 2000) was an Australian politician and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1941 until 1961. He was a member of the Labor Party and held numerous ministerial positions bet ...

in a three-cornered contest. In 1975, he was appointed Minister for Local Government; he was transferred to Lands and Forests early in 1976. He lost his position when Labor won power at the 1976 state election. Fisher continued in the shadow ministry until 1986, and retired from politics in 1988. Fisher died in Singleton in 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, Col 1923 births 2003 deaths National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia 20th-century Australian politicians Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army officers