Richard Hargrave Colless (born 12 November 1952) is an Australian politician. Colless was a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

from 2000 to 2019, representing the National Party.

Early years and background

Colless was born in Tamworth to Kenneth Hargrave Colless and Yvonne Tipling and was raised on a rural property at Bundarra, near

Inverell Inverell is a large town in northern New South Wales, Australia, situated on the Macintyre River, close to the Queensland border. It is also the centre of Inverell Shire. Inverell is located on the Gwydir Highway on the western slopes of the No ...

. He undertook primary school by correspondence from the Blackfriars Correspondence School in Sydney; and secondary education at Tamworth and

Singleton Singleton may refer to: Sciences, technology Mathematics * Singleton (mathematics), a set with exactly one element * Singleton field, used in conformal field theory Computing * Singleton pattern, a design pattern that allows only one instance ...

High Schools. Colless won a cadetship with the Soil Conservation Service of the New South Wales, that led to studies at

Hawkesbury Agricultural College Hawkesbury Agricultural College was the first agricultural college in New South Wales, Australia, based in Richmond. It operated from 1891 to 1989. It was established on 10 March 1891, and formally opened by Minister for Mines and Agriculture ...

. Working for the Soil Conservation Service for the next 26 years, he worked in various country towns including

Henty Henty may refer to: Australian geography *Henty, New South Wales * Henty, Victoria * Henty (wine) an Australian geographical indicator and wine region in southwestern Victoria *Division of Henty, a former federal electorate in Victoria *Henty Highw ...

Cowra Cowra is a small town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre and the council seat for the Cowra Shire, with a population of 9,863. Cowra is located approximately above sea level, on the ...

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters pate ...

Gunnedah Gunnedah is a town in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia and is the seat of the Gunnedah Shire local government area. In the the town recorded a population of 9,726. Gunnedah is situated within the Liverpool Plains, a fertile agricultur ...

and Inverell where he settled in 1987. In 1991, he was elected to Inverell Shire Council and served three terms as a councillor and became its mayor in 1999. He became the Chairman of the Inverell Branch of the National Party of Australia in 1996 and served in that role until 1999. He became Chairman of the New England Electorate Council in 1999 and served a term during 2000 on the Central Executive of the National Party.

Parliamentary career

He was appointed to the Legislative Council on 30 August 2000 following the resignation of the National Party MLC Richard Bull. He was reelected in the 2007 and 2011 NSW elections. Colless served as Chief Whip for The Nationals in the Upper House from 2002 until 2015, chaired the Standing Committee on State Development from 2011 to 2015 and was appointed as the Parliamentary Secretary for Natural Resources and Regional Planning from March 2015. He has also served on a number of other committees during his parliamentary term.

Personal information

Colless's great great grandfather

Richard Hargrave Richard Hargrave (1 February 1817 – 19 January 1905) was an Australian politician and a pastoralist. Hargrave was born to Joshua Hargrave and Sarah Hargrave (née Lee) on 1 February 1817 at Greenwich, England. His father was a hardware merch ...

, and his great, great uncle

John Fletcher Hargrave John Fletcher Hargrave (28 December 1815 – 23 February 1885) was a British-born Australian politician and judge. Hargrave was born to Joshua Hargrave and Sarah Hargrave (née Lee) at Greenwich, England. His father was a hardware merchant. H ...

,
both served in the New South Wales Parliament. Richard Hargrave came to New South Wales in 1838 aboard the sailing ship Argyle. Hargrave was elected as the first member for New England and Macleay in the first

Legislative Assembly of New South Wales The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Hous ...

. Hargrave's older brother, John Fletcher Hargrave QC, arrived in New South Wales in 1856 and served in the Legislative Council from 1859 until 1861. John Hargrave was also appointed as a Representative of Government in the Legislative Council and served as Solicitor-General and Attorney-General until 1865. In 1976, Colless married Toni Christine Brown, and together they have three children. They divorced in 2010 and in 2012 Colless married Geraldine Barton (née Porter).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colless, Richard Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Living people 1952 births 21st-century Australian politicians