Peter Howson CMG (22 May 1919 – 1 February 2009) was an Australian politician who served in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

from 1955 to 1972, representing 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 ...

. He was Minister for Air from 1964 to 1968 and Minister for the Environment, Aborigines and the Arts from 1971 to 1972.

Early life

Howson was born in London, England, the son of Jessie and George Arthur Howson. His father was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer, while his grandfather George John Howson was an Anglican archdeacon. Howson was educated at

Stowe School , motto_translation = I stand firm and I stand first , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent school, day & boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. During World War II, he served in the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

as a pilot from 1940 to 1946, and was

Mentioned in Despatches 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 ...

for his service. He was shot down while flying a

Fairey Albacore The Fairey Albacore is a single-engine biplane torpedo bomber designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Fairey Aviation. It was primarily operated by the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA) and was heavily used during the Second ...

over

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

for the

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

, as he and four

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

s were surprised by 70 German planes. This gave him a deep and long scar on his face.

Politics

Howson was the

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 for the

seat of

Fawkner Fawkner is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Hume and Merri-bek local government areas. Fawkner recorded a population of 14,274 at the 2021 census. The ma ...

from his defeat of

Bill Bourke William Meskill Bourke (2 June 1913 – 22 May 1981) was an Australian politician. Bourke was elected to the Australian House of Representatives seat of Fawkner at the 1949 election representing the Australian Labor Party. He was expelled f ...

at the 1955 election until its abolition before the 1969 election. He was then elected as the member for Casey. He was appointed Minister for Air in June 1964 in

Robert Menzies The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

' last ministry. In 1967, Howson was caught up in the

VIP affair The VIP aircraft affair was an Australian political controversy relating to the use of Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) VIP aircraft by the Holt Government and its predecessor the Menzies Government. It occurred in the lead-up to the 1967 Senate ...

, which saw allegations that the government had misused the VIP aircraft fleet for ministers' private purposes. When asked to table records on the fleet's movements, Holt and Howson refused and implied that they did not exist, but Senator

John Gorton Sir John Grey Gorton (9 September 1911 – 19 May 2002) was an Australian politician who served as the nineteenth Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1968 to 1971. He led the Liberal Party during that time, having previously been a l ...

later found that the records did exist and tabled them in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. When Gorton became

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on 10 January 1968, he retained all of the previous ministers in his

ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

, but after he won a seat in the House of Representatives he carried out a

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reshuffle on 28 February 1968 and dropped Howson from the ministry. Expecting to be rewarded for his support of McMahon during Gorton's ministry, Howson was disappointed when he was appointed as Australia's first Minister for the Environment, Aborigines and the Arts. He was reported as commenting: "The little bastard gave me trees, boongs and pooftas". However, according to Rob Chalmers, he subsequently "showed great energy and concern to improve the lot of Aborigines". Howson was defeated by

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Race Mathews Charles Race Thorson Mathews (born 27 March 1935
) is an Australian 1972 election.

Later life

In 1973, Howson founded the Deafness Foundation Victoria. In 1984, Howson published a diary (edited by Don Aitkin) recording the events during his period as a parliamentarian and as a minister. According to Rob Chalmers, it was "one of the most informative and interesting books on Australian postwar politics ever published". Howson was active as a commentator on Indigenous matters, strongly supporting their

cultural assimilation Cultural assimilation is the process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a society's majority group or assume the values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group whether fully or partially. The different types of cultural assi ...

while deriding the

Stolen Generations The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church miss ...

as a "silly fairy tale". Howson died in

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

in 2009, aged 89, after suffering complications from a fall.

Honours

Howson was appointed a

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

in 1980 for services to Parliament. He was also awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...

in 2001 for long and devoted service to improving conditions for Australia's

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

.HOWSON, Peter
''

It's an Honour The It's an Honour website is the Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westmins ...

'', 1980.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howson, Peter 1919 births 2009 deaths Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Fawkner Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Casey Australian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Recipients of the Centenary Medal Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II People educated at Stowe School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British emigrants to Australia 20th-century Australian politicians World War II pilots