John Austin Gray MC (16 April 1892 – 6 May 1939) was an Australian politician. He was born in

Warracknabeal Warracknabeal ( ) is a wheatbelt town in the Australian state of Victoria. Situated on the banks of the Yarriambiack Creek, 330 km north-west of Melbourne, it is the business and services centre of the northern Wimmera and southern Mallee d ...

to storekeeper Archibald Gray and Hannah Isabella Hutchinson. He attended state schools before working for the State Savings Bank of Victoria. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he served with the 6th Light Trench Mortar Battery, being awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

. On his return he became an accountant. On 3 November 1920 he married Jessie Millicent Harris, with whom he had four children. He served on Hawthorn City Council from 1927 to 1939 and was mayor from 1937 to 1938. A founding member and president of the

Young Nationalists The Nationalist Party, also known as the National Party, was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the latter formed by Prime Min ...

, he won a by-election for the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

seat of

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

in 1930. He was briefly a minister without portfolio from March to April 1935. Gray held his seat until his death in Hawthorn in 1939.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, John Austin 1892 births 1939 deaths Australian Army officers Australian military personnel of World War I Australian recipients of the Military Cross Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria United Australia Party members of the Parliament of Victoria 20th-century Australian politicians People from Warracknabeal Military personnel from Victoria (state)