Christopher Augustus "Gus" Kelly (21 August 1890 – 25 March 1967) was an Australian

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 ...

. He was a Labor Party 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 1925 to 1932 and again from 1935 until his death in 1967, representing the electorate of Bathurst. He held numerous ministerial positions between 1941 and 1965 in McKell Labor Government.

Early life

Kelly was born near

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and Gol ...

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 son of John Kelly, labourer, and Margaret Kearney. His father died when Kelly was aged and his family moved to

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, where he was educated to elementary level at the Wellington convent by Catholic nuns. He initially worked as a labourer with the

New South Wales Government Railways The New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) was the agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in New South Wales, Australia, between 1855 and 1932. Management The agency was managed by a range of differe ...

and then later at the

Portland, New South Wales Portland is a town in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. At the , Portland had a population of 2,424 people. The town was named after Australia's first cement works. Location Portland is part of the gateway to the Central West ...

limestone quarry. Following an accident, he became a cement tester. In 1906, Kelly joined the Australian Labor Party and held office as Portland branch secretary for 18 years and the local

union organiser A union organizer (or union organiser in Commonwealth spelling) is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. A majority of unions appoint rather than elect their organizers. In some unions, the orga ...

for the Clerk's Division of the

Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the 1880s and currently has approximately 80,000 members. It has exerci ...

. Kelly had active military service in the

First Australian Imperial Force 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 ...

in Egypt and France between 1915 and 1919.

Political career

In a pre-selection held in 1919, Kelly defeated

Ben Chifley Joseph Benedict Chifley (; 22 September 1885 – 13 June 1951) was an Australian politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1945, follow ...

and was endorsed as one of three Labor candidates to contest the multi-member electorate of Bathurst at the 1922 State election. Kelly was unsuccessful at this election, and successfully sought endorsement (again against Chifley), and succeeded at the 1925 State election winning the third position, defeating

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

sitting member,

Charles Rosenthal Major General Sir Charles Rosenthal, (12 February 1875 – 11 May 1954) was an Australian architect, soldier, musician and politician. He commanded units of infantry in the Australian Imperial Force during the First World War, and in the 1920 ...

. Following a statewide electoral redistribution, Kelly retained the seat of Bathurst when New South Wales reverted to single member electorates at the 1927 state election. Kelly was re-elected at the 1930 state election with over 60% of the vote, but was defeated on preferences in the 1932 State election landslide that ended the premiership of Jack Lang. After three years working as the gatekeeper at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...

(where

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 ...

sat on the Board of Trustees), Kelly regained the seat in the 1935 state election on preferences from the Labor Party candidate whilst standing as a candidate for

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 ...

. Kelly retained the seat at the

1938 Events January * January 1 ** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...

, was unopposed in

1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Eu ...

, challenged in

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

, and

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

state elections, again unopposed in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

, and challenged in

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

, and

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

state elections; winning each time. He was a member of the

while that party was separated from the Federal executive of the Labor Party between 1931 and 1936. In the

Labor Government that came to power at the 1941 state election, Kelly was appointed to the following portfolios during his parliamentary career spanning 38 years; 24 of which were as a Minister: *Minister for Health (1941 to 1950 and again, during 1960) *Minister for Housing (1950 to 1952 and again, during 1954) *Colonial Secretary (1952 to 1959) *Minister for Immigration (1953–1959) *Minister for Co-operative Societies (1954 to 1959) *Chief Secretary and Minister for Tourist Activities (1959 to 1965) During Kelly's service as a politician, it was alleged that some members of the McKell cabinet were involved in a large corrupt sly-grog operation, with one particular allegation (never proven but often made) that involved Kelly. In an interview not made public till 1997, McKell (who had died in 1985) alluded to discreditable actions on Kelly's part, while refusing to supply details: :''"Kelly became an absolute load on the party... we won't say any more than that..."'' Kelly died in 1967, as the sitting member for Bathurst. A portrait of Kelly by Australian artist Reg Campbell can be found in the permanent collection of Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.

References

, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Gus 1890 births 1967 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Army officers Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians Colonial Secretaries of New South Wales Australian military personnel of World War I