Richard John Gainey (4 September 1890 – 15 July 1975) was an Australian politician. He was born in Eaglehawk to farmer John Gainey and May Salter. He attended

Melbourne Continuation School The Melbourne Continuation School was Victoria's first state secondary school, established in 1905, from the initiative of Director of Education, Frank Tate. The school was founded on the old National Model School in Spring Street, with princip ...

and became a schoolteacher at Glenhope until 1916, when he enlisted in the AIF. He was a gunner in France and Belgium, and was wounded and gassed in 1918. He returned to teaching in 1919, and on 18 September 1927 married Evelyn Alice Aitken, with whom he had a daughter. He was the head teacher at Abbotsford State School, and was the president of the Returned Soldier Teachers of Victoria and also significant in the Returned and Services League. He had been a founding member of the

Gould League The Gould League is an independent Australian organisation promoting Natural environment, environmental education, founded in Victoria, Australia, Victoria in 1909 and named after the English ornithologist John Gould. Largely autonomous branche ...

in 1907 and was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for his charity work. In 1955 he was elected to 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 ...

as the

Liberal and Country Party The Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division), branded as Liberal Victoria, and commonly known as the Victorian Liberals, is the state division of the Liberal Party of Australia in Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It was formed in 1949 as ...

member for

Elsternwick Elsternwick is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 9 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Elsternwick recorded a population of 10,887 at the 2021 ...

. A backbencher, he opposed live

trap shooting Trap shooting, or trapshooting in North America, is one of the three major disciplines of competitive clay pigeon shooting, which is shooting shotguns at clay targets. The other disciplines are skeet shooting and sporting clays. They are disting ...

and

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampri ...

use. His seat was abolished in 1967, and he lost preselection to contest another seat, retiring from politics. Gainey died at

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

in 1975.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gainey, Richard 1890 births 1975 deaths Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Members of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century Australian politicians