Lionel Francis Kelly (22 January 1897 – 16 April 1977) was an Australian politician who was a 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 1941 to 1968. He was initially elected as an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
, but in 1946 joined the
Labor Party. He served as a minister in the government of
Albert Hawke from 1953 to 1959.
Early life
Kelly was born in
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
to Margaret Ann (née Campbell) and John Kelly. He attended
Christian Brothers' College, Perth, and after leaving school went to the
Gascoyne
The Gascoyne region is one of the nine administrative regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gasc ...
, managing a
station near
Gascoyne Junction. He served on the
Upper Gascoyne Road Board from 1927 to 1928. Kelly later moved to
Bullfinch, a small town in the eastern
Wheatbelt, where he ran a store. He was elected to the
Yilgarn Road Board in 1929, and would serve until 1943.
[Lionel Kelly](_blank)
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
Politics
Kelly first stood for parliament at the
1939 state election, as an "independent Labor" candidate, but was defeated in the
seat of Yilgarn-Coolgardie by the endorsed Labor candidate,
George Lambert. Lambert died in office in June 1941, and Kelly won
the resulting by-election as an "independent
Country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...
" candidate. At the
1943 state election, Kelly was re-elected to Yilgarn-Coolgardie as a plain
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
.
However, he joined the Labor Party in July 1946,
"P.L.P. Meeting"
''Westralian Worker
The ''Westralian Worker'' was a newspaper established in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia in 1900 and published until its demise in 1951 in Perth, Western Australia.
History
It was established as the ''Official organ of the Western Australian L ...
'', 26 July 1946. and was re-elected unopposed as a Labor candidate at the 1947 state election.
At the 1950 election, Kelly's seat was abolished, and he transferred to the new seat of Merredin-Yilgarn. After Labor's victory at the 1953 election, he was made Minister for Mines and Minister for Fisheries in the new ministry formed by Albert Hawke. He was also made Minister for Industrial Development in 1954. In a reshuffle in December 1957, he lost the mines and industrial development portfolios, but was made Minister for Lands and Minister for Agriculture. The Labor government was defeated at the 1959 state election. Kelly remained in parliament until his retirement at the 1968 election. Merredin-Yilgarn had become increasingly marginal, and the replacement Labor candidate, Jim Brown, was defeated by the 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 ...
's Jack Stewart (although Labor reclaimed the seat three years later).
Later life
After leaving parliament, Kelly served on the board of various mining firms. He died in Perth in April 1977, aged 80. Kelly was married twice, firstly in 1924 to Inez Marie Jackson, with whom he had three children. He was widowed in 1931, and remarried in 1934 to Eva Florence Roberts, with whom he had another four children.
References
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Lionel
1897 births
1977 deaths
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia
Independent members of the Parliament of Western Australia
Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
People educated at Christian Brothers' College, Perth
Politicians from Perth, Western Australia
Western Australian local councillors
20th-century Australian politicians