James Robert Henry Blake (6 October 1921 – 9 April 2010) was a sugarcane farmer and member of the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly h ...

Biography

Blake was born in Childers,

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 , establishe ...

, to parents Harold Joseph Blake and his wife Eva Lillian (née Pitt). He attended Doolbi Primary School, Childers Junior High School and Brisbane Technical College. Blake served in the 2d AIF in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, rising to the rank of Lance BombardierBLAKE, JAMES ROBERT
— World War II Nominal Roles. Retrieved 3 April 2016. with the 2/8 Field Regiment, 9 Division from 1941 until 1945 and on his return was a sugarcane farmer and trawlerman. On 21 April 1951, he married Edna Mavis Berg and together they had four daughters. He died in Bundaberg in April 2010 and was buried in the Childers Lawn Cemetery.SEARCH THE BUNDABERG CEMETERY
—

Bundaberg Regional Council The Bundaberg Region is a local government area in the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland, Australia, about north of Brisbane, the state capital. It is centred on the city of Bundaberg, and also contains a significant rural area surroundi ...

Retrieved 4 April 2016.

Public career

When the

Queensland Premier The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is a ...

Jack Pizzey Jack Charles Allan Pizzey (2 February 1911 – 31 July 1968) was a Queensland Country Party politician. He was Premier of Queensland, in a coalition with the Liberal Party, from 17 January 1968 until his death on 31 July that year. To date, h ...

, died in 1968, a by-election was held later in the year for his former seat of

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

in the Queensland Legislative Assembly. Blake, for the Labor Party, won the seat, which had always been held by the Country Party since its inception in 1932. He held Isis until his defeat in the 1974 rout of the Labor Party. Three years later, at the 1977 state elections, he won the seat of Bundaberg. He then remained its member until his retirement in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

. Blake was always on the opposition benches during his time in parliament and he held the following roles: * Member of the Parliamentary Printing Committee 1969–1974 * Opposition spokesman for Primary Industries 1970–1974 and 1978–1982 * Member of the Parliamentary Delegation to Asia 1980 * Opposition Spokesman for Lands, Forestry and Water Resources 1977–1978 * Opposition Spokesman for Primary Industries and Fisheries 1982 His interests included community problems, music and sport, boating, fishing and skin-diving. He was an executive on the Isis District Canegrowers and a vice-patron of the TPI Association (Bundaberg branch). In 2001 Blake was awarded a Centenary Medal by the federal government for his service to parliament, politics and the community.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, James Robert Henry Blake Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1921 births 2010 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army soldiers