Harold Victor Campbell Thorby (2 October 1888 – 1 January 1973) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Country Party and served as the party's deputy leader from 1937 to 1940. He represented the

Division of Calare The Division of Calare is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. Geography Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appoint ...

(1931–1940) and held ministerial office as Minister for War Service Homes (1934–1936),

Defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

(1937–1938),

Civil Aviation Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying, representing all non-military and non-state aviation, both private and commercial. Most of the countries in the world are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization and work ...

(1938–1939),

Health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

(1940), and

Postmaster-General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official responsible ...

(1940). He lost his seat at the 1940 federal election.

Early life

Thorby was born on 2 October 1888 in Annandale, Sydney, New South Wales. He was the son of Elizabeth (née Campbell) and Frederick James Thorby; his mother was Irish and his father English. Thorby grew up with his maternal grandparents in Geurie and attended the local public school before going on to Sydney Grammar School. He later acquired his own property in Geurie and studied woolclassing, veterinary science and architecture through Sydney Technical College. He also worked as a construction foreman for his father, whose firm had projects in Sydney and

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 1916, he married Vera Lynda Morley and they had two daughters.

State politics

Thorby was a member of the three-member

electoral district of Wammerawa Wammerawa was an electoral district for the Legislative Assembly in the Australian State of New South Wales, created in 1920, with the introduction of proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral ...

in the

NSW 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 Hous ...

from 1922 to 1927 for the Country Party. After its division into single-member electorates in 1927 he represented Castlereagh for one term to 1930 until his defeat by

Joseph Alfred Clark Joseph Alfred Clark (21 November 1872 – 25 April 1951) was an Australian politician. He was born at Marrickville to master mariner James Clark and Mary, ''née'' Evans. He attended Marrickville Superior Public School before becoming a bus ...

of the Labor Party. He was the Minister for Agriculture and chairman of the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission in the government of

Thomas Bavin Sir Thomas Rainsford Bavin, (5 May 1874 – 31 August 1941) was an Australian lawyer and politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1927 to 1930. He was born in New Zealand and arrived in Australia at the age of 15, where he stud ...

from 1927 to 1930, during which construction of the

Wyangala Dam Wyangala Dam is a major gated rock fill with clay core embankment and gravity dam with eight radial gates and a concrete chute spillway across the Lachlan River, located in the south-western slopes region of New South Wales, Australia. The ...

commenced, the

Burrinjuck Dam Burrinjuck Dam is a heritage-listed major gated concrete-walled gravity hydro-electric dam at Burrinjuck, Yass Valley Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It has three spillways across the Murrumbidgee River located in the South West Slopes regi ...

was finished and the

Hawkesbury Agricultural College Hawkesbury Agricultural College was the first agricultural college in New South Wales, Australia, based in Richmond. It operated from 1891 to 1989. It was established on 10 March 1891, and formally opened by Minister for Mines and Agriculture ...

was enlarged.

Federal politics

SLNSW 11821 Minister for Defence talks with three senior officers Officers School group

At the 1931 general election, Thorby won the federal seat of Calare, which he held until 1940. He was a Minister without Portfolio from November 1934 to November 1937 in the Lyons government, entitled Assistant Minister for Repatriation (1934–35), Minister for War Service Homes (1935–36) and Assistant Minister for Commerce (1935–37). In November 1937, Thorby was elected deputy leader of the Country Party, defeating

John McEwen Sir John McEwen, (29 March 1900 – 20 November 1980) was an Australian politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Australia, holding office from 1967 to 1968 in a caretaker capacity after the disappearance of Harold Holt. He was the ...

by a single vote on the second ballot. He subsequently served as

Minister for Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

from November 1937 to November 1938 and Minister for Works and Minister for Civil Aviation from November 1938. During this period he initiated a program of adding annexes to existing factories to accelerate armaments production, but this program failed to spend even budgeted funds. In April 1939, he left the ministry when the Country Party refused to take part in the

Menzies government Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived f ...

. With the formation of a coalition government in March 1940, Thorby became

Minister for Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

and

Later years

After his defeat at the 1940 election by Labor's John Breen, Thorby ran unsuccessfully for the state seat of Dubbo at the

1941 by-election 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 Eut ...

and the federal seat of Calare at the

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 ...

and 1946 elections. He returned to farming on his wife's parents property at Wongarbon and remained active in the Graziers' Association and the Country Party. Thorby's first wife died in 1958 and he married Alfreda Rogers Smith in 1960. He died at his home in the Sydney suburb of

Wahroonga Wahroonga is a suburb in the Upper North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of Ku-ring-gai Council and Hornsby Shire. ...

, survived by two daughters from his first marriage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorby, Harold Members of the Cabinet of Australia 1888 births 1973 deaths Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Calare Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly People educated at Sydney Grammar School National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Defence ministers of Australia 20th-century Australian politicians Australian Ministers for Health