Ernest George Keegan OAM (16 September 1928 – 25 November 2008) was an Australian politician. He served as an independent member for

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

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 19 March 1988 to 3 May 1991. Keegan attended Adamstown Primary School and

Cooks Hill Cooks Hill is an inner city suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It is typified by its tree lined streets, rows of Victorian terrace housing, turn of the century timber cottages and corner pubs. Cooks Hill ...

High Schoolfor secondary schooling. Before entering politics, Keegan was a self-employed real estate agent and licensed valuer. Keegan sought and won by a 5.3% margin the extremely safe

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

party seat of

at the

1988 New South Wales state election Elections to the 49th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 19 March 1988. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and a third of the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election. The Labor government of Premier Barrie Un ...

which saw the landslide defeat of the

Barrie Unsworth Barrie John Unsworth (born 16 April 1934) is a former Australian politician, representing the Labor Party in the Parliament of New South Wales from 1978 to 1991. He served as the 36th Premier from July 1986 to March 1988. Early years Unswo ...

Labor Government which had collectively been in power for well over a decade. He sought re-election at the

1991 New South Wales state election Elections to the 50th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 25 May 1991. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election. The Liberal-National Coalition government of Prem ...

however was defeated by the new Labor candidate. Keegan had two sons from his first marriage to Laurel Woollett, and at the time of his death was married to Jeanette Ballard and also had two stepdaughters. He was a foundation member of the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club. Keegan died on 25 November 2008 in the Newcastle suburb of

Gateshead, New South Wales Gateshead is a suburb of the City of Lake Macquarie, Greater Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, from Newcastle's central business district on the eastern side of Lake Macquarie. It is part of the City of Lake Macquarie East ward, and is ...

after a severe

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

the week before. His funeral was held at Newcastle's Christ Church Cathedral and was attended by some 700 mourners.

References

Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1928 births 2008 deaths 20th-century Australian politicians {{Australia-politician-stub