Henry George Pearce (17 September 1917 – 23 May 1992) was an Australian politician who was a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

from 1949 to 1961, representing the

Division of Capricornia The Division of Capricornia is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. Capricornia is a traditionally a Labor-voting electorate, having been Labor-held for 72 years of the 100 years since 1922. However, Capricornia has recently trended ...

for 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 ...

Early life

Pearce was born in

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

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_ ...

, and attended Rockhampton State High School. He married Nell Graham in 1939, with whom he had two sons, Greg and Laurie. After leaving school, Pearce worked as the manager of a sports store for a period. He was rejected for military service as medically unfit, but during the war worked for the

Australian Red Cross The Australian Red Cross, formally the Australian Red Cross Society, is a humanitarian aid and community services charity in Australia. Tracing its history back to 1923 and being incorporated by royal charter in 1941, the Australian Red Cros ...

as secretary of the local branch and area officer for

Central Queensland Central Queensland is an ambiguous geographical division of Queensland ( a state in Australia) that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton. The region extends from the Capricorn Coas ...

. At the time of his election to parliament in 1949, he was working as a sales representative for a printing house.

Politics

At the 1946 federal election, Pearce served on the campaign committee of Charles Davidson, who defeated former prime minister

Frank Forde Francis Michael Forde (18 July 189028 January 1983) was an Australian politician who served as prime minister of Australia from 6 to 13 July 1945. He was the deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1932 to 1946. He served as pri ...

in the

. Prior to the 1949 election, Davidson switched to the new

Division of Dawson The Division of Dawson is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. Geography Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australi ...

. Pearce replaced him as the Liberal candidate in Capricornia, and retained the seat despite a swing to the Labor Party. He was re-elected in 1951,

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

, and

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

. In 1960, Pearce was made Government Whip in the House of Representatives, having previously been deputy whip under

Hubert Opperman Sir Hubert Ferdinand Opperman, OBE (29 May 1904 – 18 April 1996), referred to as Oppy by Australian and French crowds, was an Australian cyclist and politician, whose endurance cycling feats in the 1920s and 1930s earned him international acc ...

. The following year, he chaired the

select committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system), a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues *Select or special committee (United States Congress) *Select ...

into voting rights that reported that universal suffrage should be granted to Indigenous Australians. The committee's recommendations were passed into law in 1962. Pearce lost his seat in parliament at the 1961 election. He was defeated by the Labor candidate George Gray on an 11-point swing, which was partially due to an unfavourable redistribution.

Later life

In 1962, Pearce was reported to be working as a business consultant. He later became the executive director of Pacific Sporting Pools, which set up

betting pool A betting pool, syndicate, sports lottery, sweep, or office pool if done at work, is a form of gambling, specifically a variant of parimutuel betting influenced by Lottery, lotteries, where gamblers pay a fixed price into a ''pool'' (from which ta ...

s on Australian sports but ran its operations from

Nauru Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Ki ...

in order to circumvent local gambling laws. It was formally launched on 1 June 1969, but suspended its operations after six weeks following active opposition from the Victorian and New South Wales state governments. Pearce resigned his position at that time. He was also a director of two related companies, Central Pacific Hotels and Central Pacific Airways. A hotel was built on the island, but the airline did not become operational. Pearce was predeceased by his wife Nell in September 1991. He died in Queensland on 23 May 1992 at the age of 74.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, George 1917 births 1992 deaths 20th-century Australian politicians Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Capricornia People from Rockhampton Australian corporate directors Australian sports businesspeople