Richard Charles Old (3 December 1922 – 29 June 2007) was an Australian politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

from 1974 to 1986. He was state leader of the

National Country Party The National Party of Australia, also known as The Nationals or The Nats, is an Australian political party. Traditionally representing graziers, farmers, and regional voters generally, it began as the Australian Country Party in 1920 at a fe ...

(NCP) from 1975 to 1985, and served as a minister in the governments of

Charles Court Sir Charles Walter Michael Court, (29 September 1911 – 22 December 2007) was a Western Australian politician, and the 21st Premier of Western Australia from 1974 to 1982. He was a member of the Liberal Party. Early life Court's family e ...

and

Ray O'Connor Raymond James O'Connor (6 March 1926 – 25 February 2013) was an Australian politician who served as the premier of Western Australia from 25 January 1982 to 25 February 1983. He was a member of parliament from 1959 to 1984, and a minister in ...

Early life

Old was born in

Katanning, Western Australia Katanning is a town located south-east of Perth, Western Australia on the Great Southern Highway. At the 2016 census, Katanning had a population of 3,687. History The name ''Katanning'' is derived from the native name for a camping place. T ...

, to Vera Anne (née Cornish) and James William Old. His uncle,

Cyril Cornish Cyril Richard Cornish, DSO (30 June 1891 – 10 October 1961) was an Australian businessman and politician who was an independent member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia from 1942 to 1946, representing North Province. Cornish ...

, was also a member of parliament. After leaving school, Old began working for

Goldsbrough Mort & Co Goldsbrough Mort & Co was an Australian agricultural business. History In 1843 Thomas Sutcliffe Mort established a business which operated as auctioneers and brokers in the wool trade. The business took on partners and become known as Mort & Co ...

., an agricultural retailer. He enlisted in the

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

(RAAF) in 1941, and during the war served on airbases in North-West Australia (including

Corunna Downs Airfield Corunna Downs Airfield was a secret Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base at Corunna Downs, south of Marble Bar, Western Australia, Marble Bar in the Pilbara region of Western Australia during World War II. In 1942 the RAAF built a secret airb ...

) as a wireless operator. After being discharged in 1945, Old returned to Goldsbrough Mort as a manager, working for periods in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, Midland, Corrigin, and Moora. He managed a machinery company in Mingenew from 1953 to 1956, and then returned to Katanning to take over his father's fuel business. Old was elected to the Katanning Shire Council in 1961, and served as shire president from 1966 to 1973.Richard Charles Old
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 11 January 2017.

Politics

Old entered parliament at the 1974 state election, replacing Sir

Crawford Nalder Sir Crawford David Nalder (14 February 1910 – 8 December 1994) was an Australian politician who served as Deputy Premier of Western Australia from 1962 to 1971. He was leader of the Country Party in Western Australia from 1962 to 1973. Nalde ...

(a former Country Party leader) in the seat of Katanning. After the election, he was elected deputy chairman of committees in the Legislative Assembly. In May 1975,

Ray McPharlin Walter Raymond McPharlin (21 February 1916 – 13 July 1991) was the Country Party member for Mount Marshall in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1967 to 1983. He played football for East Fremantle from 1938 to 1939 and in 1 ...

, the NCP leader, withdrew the party from its coalition with the

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 ...

over policy differences. McPharlin was subsequently replaced as leader by Old, and the coalition was resumed. Old became Minister for Agriculture in the new ministry, but was not appointed

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, ...

(the traditional position for the leader of the minority party in the coalition) due to

's belief that he was too inexperienced. Despite Old gaining experience as a minister, he still was not appointed Deputy Premier when the position fell vacant in 1980 and 1982 whilst the Coalition had remained in office. In 1982, when Charles Court was replaced as premier by

, Old was additionally made Minister for Fisheries and Wildlife. He remained in the ministry until the government's defeat at the 1983 election. Tensions had continued within the NCP after Old's election as leader, and in August 1978 three of its six MPs (

Hendy Cowan Hendy John Cowan (born 25 April 1943) is a former deputy premier of Western Australia. He had served in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly as the Member for Merredin-Yilgarn from 30 March 1974 and the Member for Merredin from 19 Feb ...

, Ray McPharlin, and

Matt Stephens Matt Stephens (born 1971) is an author and software process expert based in London, UK. In January 2010 he founded independent book publisher Fingerpress UK Ltd, and in November 2014 he founded the Virtual Reality book discovery site Inkflash. H ...

) left to form their own party, the National Party. The two parties ran candidates against each other in 1980 and 1983, but agreed to merge in 1984, under the name of the National Party. The NCP was not formally wound up until January 1985. Its three remaining members in the Legislative Assembly, Old, Bert Crane, and Peter Jones, refused to join the new unified party, instead switching to the Liberal Party. Old and Jones were defeated by National Party candidates at the 1986 state election, but Crane retained his seat.

Later life

In retirement, Old lived in Perth and Busselton. He continued to campaign for the Liberal Party candidates for several years, but in 1991 resigned his membership to protest the treatment of

Liz Constable Elizabeth Constable (born 2 December 1943) is a former Independent member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, firstly representing the seat of Floreat after winning it at a 1991 by-election following the resignation of Andrew Mens ...

. Constable had lost a Liberal

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presele ...

contest for the 1991 Floreat by-election amid allegations of

branch stacking A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term '' twig'' usuall ...

, but subsequently won the seat 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 ...

.The Lawrence Government: Perspective by David Black - Part 2
Carmen Lawrence Collection, Curtin University Library. Retrieved 11 January 2017. Old died in Busselton in June 2007, aged 84. He had married Patricia Isabel Hansen in 1945, with whom he had two children.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Old, Dick 1922 births 2007 deaths Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia Mayors of places in Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia People from Katanning, Western Australia Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Western Australian local councillors