Nicholas Gorshenin (25 October 1922 – 9 October 2005) was a shark meshing contractor, North Sydney Council alderman and one of the founders of the

Liberal Reform Group The Liberal Reform Group, later known as the Australian Reform Movement, was a minor Australian political party and predecessor to the Australia Party, which in turn was a predecessor to the Australian Democrats. It was founded by Gordon Barton, ...

, which became the

Australia Party The Australia Party was a minor political party established initially in 1966 as the Liberal Reform Group. As the Australia Party, it became influential, particularly in the landmark 1972 federal election when its preferences assisted the Austr ...

. The preferences from the

in the 1972 elections assisted the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...

under

Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the ...

bring to an end 23 years of

Liberal Country Party The Liberal Country Party (LCP) was a splinter group of the United Country Party, the Victorian branch of the Australian Country Party, formed after federal MP John McEwen was expelled from the state branch for accepting a ministry in the Lyon ...

rule. The Australia Party later merged with Democrats to become the

Australian Democrats The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Austral ...

Early life

Gorshenin was born in

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...

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, the fourth child and eldest son of five children from Nickolai Gorshenin, who was a Colonel in the Imperial Russian Army, and Anastasia Gorshenin (née Branski). The family became separated in the chaos after the fall of Vladivostok, the last city to hold out from the

Bolshevik revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

. His mother had to trek the harsh Siberian landscape, with her two young daughters and one-week-old baby Nick, to Harbin to meet up with her husband. Arriving in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

as refugees, young Gorshenin lived his early childhood amongst the cane fields of Innisfail, near Cairns before moving to Balmain where his father worked in the coal mine and later to Camperdown. Gorshenin reluctantly left school at the age 15 to work in his father's petrol station. His younger brother, Alex went on to study medicine at Sydney University and became a leading ear, nose and throat specialist. Gorshenin spent the last few years of World War II on the Indonesian island of Morotai. Gorshenin began commercial fishing, out of Eden on the NSW south coast. In the early 1950s he meshed the beaches around Newcastle as a contractor for the NSW government. Based in Stockton, he met and soon married Joan Sturrock. Gorshenin and Joan had three children: Nick, Anne and Peter. In 1954 Gorshenin gained the Sydney shark meshing contract and the family moved to Sydney. Gorshenin was an international shark expert, sometimes appearing in the media. He helped to establish shark meshing in Queensland and South Africa. Living at Lavender Bay, North Sydney, Gorshenin became involved in local community organisations, including the North Sydney Demonstration School P&C, Meals on Wheels, North Sydney Younger Set and the McMahon's Point Progress Association, leading him to being elected as an alderman on North Sydney council in 1960.

Political career

Gorshenin was elected as an alderman on North Sydney Council in 1960. Gorshenin ran as an Independent for Kirribilli in the 1965 NSW elections. He convinced the

(ALP) not to field a candidate against the sitting

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

member and was mounting a strong challenge before the ALP made a last minute decision to run a candidate. Gorshenin garnered 9.7% of the vote. Gorshenin also ran as an Independent in the seat of North Sydney in the

1966 Australian Federal Election The 1966 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 26 November 1966. All 124 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition government, led by Prime Minister Harold Holt, won an ...

. On 22 October 1966 when U.S. President Lyndon Johnson was visiting Sydney, local entrepreneurs

Gordon Barton Gordon Page Barton (30 August 19294 April 2005) was an Australian businessman and political activist. Biography He was born in Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) of a Dutch mother and Australian father. He showed his intelligenc ...

and Ken Thomas financed a full page advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald, lamenting Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War. Gorshenin rang Gordon Barton that night to congratulate him and they agreed to form a political organisation, namely the Liberal Reform Group (soon amended to Liberal Reform Movement), to become the first political party in Australia to campaign for the removal of Australian troops from the war. Around the same time, his wife Joan was Social Secretary of the India League and met Indira Gandhi when she visited Sydney in May 1968. Gorshenin used his contacts in Sydney, Newcastle, New England and Brisbane to form a number of party branches. They changed the name to the Australia Party to contest the 1969 federal elections and Gorshenin was the Campaign Director. The Australia Party became a significant force in the 1972 elections in nullifying the power of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) to assist the Australian Labor Party under Gough Whitlam to victory, ending 23 years of Liberal Party/Country Party coalition rule. Gorshenin maintained a strong interest in local and international politics after leaving the Australia Party in the mid-1970s. Joan died in 1987 and Gorshenin in 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorshenin, Nick Australia Party politicians 1922 births 2005 deaths 20th-century Australian politicians North Sydney Council Soviet emigrants to Australia