John Merrifield Hearman CMG (10 November 1910 – 20 February 1994) was an Australian politician who was a

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 ...

member of the Legislative Assembly of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

from 1950 to 1968, representing the seat of Blackwood. He served as

Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Speaker of the Legislative Assembly is a title commonly held by presiding officers of parliamentary bodies styled legislative assemblies. The office is most widely used in state and territorial legislatures in Australia, and in provincial and ter ...

from 1959 to 1968, with only Sir James Lee-Steere having served in the position longer.

Early life

Hearman was born in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, England, to Minnie (née Merrifield) and Walter Edgar Hearman. His family moved to Western Australia when he was three years old, settling in Donnybrook. His older sister, Joan Tully, became a prominent agricultural scientist. Attending

Guildford Grammar School Guildford Grammar School, informally known as Guildford Grammar, Guildford or GGS, is an independent Anglican coeducational primary and secondary day and boarding school, located in Guildford, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Initia ...

, Hearman was a talented rower in his youth and represented Western Australia at the 1930

King's Cup __NOTOC__ King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King Cup (sometimes named King's Cup), Saudi Arabian men's football nati ...

(the Australian national championships).John Merifield Hearman
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 13 May 2016. In 1939, Hearman enlisted in the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

, where he was initially attached to the 2/16th Battalion as a platoon commander and machine gunner. Hearman saw service in the Middle East,

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

, and the

Celebes Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu A ...

, and was

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

during the

Kokoda Campaign The Kokoda Track campaign or Kokoda Trail campaign was part of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign consisted of a series of battles fought between July and November 1942 in what was then the Australian Territory of Papua. It was prima ...

. He reach the rank of

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

by the war's end and was briefly attached to the

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...

in 1946, as an officer in the 80th Infantry Brigade. Hearman was discharged in March 1946, and returned to his dairy farm.

Politics and later life

A member of the Liberal Party from 1946, Hearman was elected to parliament at the 1950 state election, for the new seat of Blackwood. He was appointed deputy chairman of committees in 1957, and after the Liberals' victory at the 1959 election was elected to the speakership. Hearman was re-elected in Blackwood with a large majority in 1962, and unopposed in 1965. He remained speaker until the 1968 election, when he was unexpectedly defeated in his own seat (despite the return of the Liberal government for a third term).

Ron Kitney Ronald Wilfred Kitney (14 July 1918 – 29 March 2011) was an Australian farmer and politician who was a Country Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1968 to 1971, representing the seat of Blackwood. Kitney was ...

of the Country Party was his only opponent, and polled 54.6 percent of the vote. Hearman was the first sitting speaker since

Timothy Quinlan Timothy Francis Quinlan KSS (18 February 1861 – 8 July 1927) was an Irish-born Australian politician who represented the electorates of West Perth and Toodyay in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly between 1890 and 1894, and 189 ...

in 1911 to be defeated at a general election. He served as speaker for just under nine years, with only Sir James Lee-Steere having served in the position longer.Speakers of the Legislative Assembly
– Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 13 May 2016. Hearman returned to his farm after leaving politics, and died in Donnybrook in February 1994, aged 83. He had married Millicent Jean Hardie in 1943, with whom he had two sons and two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hearman, John 1910 births 1994 deaths Australian Army officers Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Australian male rowers English emigrants to Australia Indian Army personnel of World War II Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Speakers of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly People educated at Guildford Grammar School People from the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames 20th-century Australian politicians

Early life

Politics and later life

See also

References