David John Prowse (born 10 March 1941), a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

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 ...

, was the first

Speaker of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly The Speaker of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly is the presiding officer of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly, the unicameral legislature of the Australian Capital Territory. Speakers of the Australian C ...

, serving between 1989 and 1992. Elected at the 1989 general election to the inaugural multi-member single electorate

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...

Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory (known in short as the ACT Legislative Assembly) is the unicameral legislature of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It sits in the Legislative Assembly Building on Civic Sq ...

representing, initially, the

No Self-Government Party The No Self-Government Party was a minor Australian Capital Territory political party that experienced limited success in the early years of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly. Like Dennis Stevenson's Abolish Self-Government ...

, Prowse then sat as an

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 ...

, before joining the

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Biography

Born in

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Prowse was educated at the

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1887 by Francis Ormond, RMIT began as a night school offering classes in art, scienc ...

where he graduated with an Associate Diploma in Electrical Engineering and worked as an electrical fitter and mechanic, and later as an electrical engineer with the

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

. Prowse rose through the Air Force ranks to become an Engineer Officer (Instrumentation) before retiring with the rank of

Squadron Leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also ...

after twenty years service. Prowse retrained as a naturopath and rose to political prominence as an anti-

water fluoridation Water fluoridation is the controlled adjustment of fluoride to a public water supply solely to reduce tooth decay. Fluoridated water contains fluoride at a level that is effective for preventing cavities; this can occur naturally or by adding ...

activist. Prowse was elected on a ticket of No Self-Government, he was ultimately successful, along with three other candidates of the Party. On 3 December 1989, Prowse, together with Duby and Maher formed the Independents Group. However, Prowse left this group on 31 July 1990 and sat out the remainder of his term as a member of the Liberal Party. At the first meeting of the Legislative Assembly, held on 11 May 1989, some eight weeks after the election, following the swearing in of the elected members, the next item of business was the election of a Presiding Officer. Following a

ballot A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in secret voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16t ...

of members of the Assembly, Prowse was elected as the Presiding Officer. The Assembly subsequently resolved that the title of the Presiding Officer be

. Prowse held this title during the term of his first Assembly; and did not seek re-election at the 1992 general election. During his term in office, Prowse travelled to

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

where he was bitten by a holiday resort monkey; and later told a press conference he feared that he might have contracted the

rabies Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. Early symptoms can include fever and tingling at the site of exposure. These symptoms are followed by one or more of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, vi ...

virus.

References

Members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly Liberal Party of Australia members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly 1941 births Living people Speakers of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly People from Cairns Royal Australian Air Force officers No Self-Government Party members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly Independents Group members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly {{Australia-Liberal-politician-stub