Clive Raleigh Evatt (6 June 1900 – 15 September 1984) was an Australian politician, barrister and raconteur. He was a 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 1939 until 1959. At various times he sat as a member of the

Industrial Labor Party The Industrial Labor Party or Heffron Labor Party was a short-lived but influential political party active in New South Wales between 1936 and 1939. It was a splinter group of the Labor Party (ALP) and was formed by Bob Heffron after he and Carl ...

, Labor Party and as an independent.

Early life

Clive Raleigh Evatt was born in

East Maitland East Maitland is a suburb in the City of Maitland, New South Wales, Australia. It is on the New England Highway and it has two railway stations, Victoria Street (opened in 1857 with the Newcastle- Maitland line) and East Maitland (opened initi ...

, the son of an immigrant publican who died when Evatt was one year old. His middle name was given in honour of his first cousin Raleigh Evatt, the son of his uncle Major-General Sir George Evatt. One of eight brothers, including

H. V. Evatt Herbert Vere Evatt, (30 April 1894 – 2 November 1965) was an Australian politician and judge. He served as a judge of the High Court of Australia from 1930 to 1940, Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs from 1941 to 1949, and l ...

, he was educated at Fort Street Boys' High School. Evatt's family prevented him from enlisting in the

First AIF The First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during the First World War. It was formed as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) following Britain's declaration of war on Germany on 15 Aug ...

, but allowed him to enroll in the

Royal Military College, Duntroon lit: Learning promotes strength , established = , type = Military college , chancellor = , head_label = Commandant , head = Brigadier Ana Duncan , principal = , city = Campbell , state ...

from which he graduated as a lieutenant in 1921. He resigned from the army the following year to study law at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

. While at university, he played

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

for

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

and

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 ...

, and was the editor for Undergraduate journal

Hermes Hermes (; grc-gre, wikt:Ἑρμῆς, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travelle ...

. Evatt graduated and was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1926. He married Marjorie Andreas, the daughter of

Harry Andreas Harry Andreas (born Ehenriech Phillip Andreas; 1879–1955) was an Australian businessman and company director. As a big-game fisherman he pioneered the sport in New Zealand. He was the inventor of the Andreas Fortuna Game Fish Reel and is des ...

of Leuralla, in 1928 and they had three children:

Elizabeth Evatt Elizabeth Andreas Evatt (born 11 November 1933), an eminent Australian reformist lawyer and jurist who sat on numerous national and international tribunals and commissions, was the first Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia, the fi ...

;

Penelope Seidler Penelope Alice Marjorie Seidler AM (nee Evatt, born 15 December 1938) is an Australian architect, former member of National Gallery of Australia Council, and current member of the NGA Foundation Board. She is also an accountant and director of ...

and defamation barrister Clive Evatt Jnr. In 1940 the Evatt family built

Evatt House Evatt House is a heritage-listed house located at 69 Junction Road in the Sydney suburb of Wahroonga in the Ku-ring-gai Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It is also known as Parklands. The property is privately owned ...

in , their home until the death of Clive and Marjorie Evatt in 1984. Evatt's career as a barrister advanced rapidly and he was appointed a King's Counsel in 1935. He specialized in

Workers' Compensation Workers' compensation or workers' comp is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her emp ...

cases but also appeared in criminal cases, most notably in the

Shark Arm case The Shark Arm case refers to a series of incidents that began in Sydney, Australia, on 25 April 1935 when a human arm was regurgitated by a captive 3.5-metre tiger shark, subsequently leading to a murder investigation and trial. Discovery of ...

, where he successfully defended Patrick Brady.

Political career

In March 1939 he successfully contested the by-election caused by the death of James Webb, the member for

Hurstville Hurstville is a suburb in Southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is 16 kilometres south of the Sydney CBD and is part of the St George area. Hurstville is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Georges Riv ...

in the Legislative Assembly. Evatt had been endorsed by the

of Bob Heffron and defeated a candidate of the

Australian Labor Party (NSW) Lang Labor was a faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) consisting of the supporters of Jack Lang, who served two terms as Premier of New South Wales and was the party's state leader from 1923 to 1939. Following the expulsion of the N ...

supported by Jack Lang. This and a subsequent defeat at a by-election in

Waverley Waverley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Waverley'' (novel), by Sir Walter Scott ** ''Waverley'' Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel * Waverley Harrison, a character in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Stree ...

signalled the end of Lang's term as

Leader of the Australian Labor Party in New South Wales The Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch), also known as NSW Labor, is the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party. The parliamentary leader is elected from and by the members of the party caucus, comprising all party mem ...

. The Industrial Labor Party was dissolved and Evatt was admitted to the Labor Party caucus when Lang was replaced as Labor leader by

William McKell Sir William John McKell (26 September 1891 – 11 January 1985) was an Australian politician who served as the 12th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1947 to 1953. He had previously been Premier of New South Wales from 1941 to 1947 ...

who subsequently led the ALP to victory at the 1941 election. Evatt served in the governments of

James McGirr James "Jim" McGirr, JP (6 February 1890 – 27 October 1957) was the Labor Premier of New South Wales from 6 February 1947 to 3 April 1952. A Catholic, McGirr was the seventh son of John Patrick McGirr, farmer and Irish immigrant, and Mary Mc ...

and

Joseph Cahill John Joseph Cahill (21 January 189122 October 1959), also known as Joe Cahill or J. J. Cahill, was a long-serving New South Wales politician, railway worker, trade unionist and Labor Party Premier of New South Wales from 1952 to his death in 1 ...

as Minister for Education (1941–1944), Minister in Charge of Tourist Activities and Immigration (1946–1947), Minister for Housing (1947–1950 and 1952–1954) and Chief Secretary (1950–1952). As Housing minister, Evatt presided over the significant expansion of public housing administered by the Housing Commission and initiated various schemes of slum clearance in inner Sydney, such as in Redfern. Tensions within the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party leading up to the 1950s party split led to Cahill forcing Evatt from the cabinet. Evatt was expelled from the Labor Party on 13 July 1956 after he voted in parliament against a caucus decision to increase tram fares. He fought the subsequent election as an independent Labor candidate but he was defeated by the endorsed ALP candidate Bill Rigby.

Life after politics

After leaving politics he continued to work as a barrister with a large Worker's Compensation and defamation practice. Evatt died at

Darlinghurst Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Sydney. ...

on 15 September 1984, survived by his three children. His son was also named Clive and was also a barrister.

References

, - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Evatt, Clive 1900 births 1984 deaths Australian people of English descent Australian King's Counsel Australian rugby league players Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Colonial Secretaries of New South Wales New South Wales rugby league team players People educated at Fort Street High School Royal Military College, Duntroon graduates Sydney University rugby league team players 20th-century Australian lawyers Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians Australian Army officers 20th-century Australian military personnel