Roderick Carson Oliver (8 March 1922 – 24 September 2005) was an Australian politician, who was a member of the

Northern Territory Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory is the unicameral legislature of the Northern Territory of Australia. The Legislative Assembly has 25 members, each elected in single-member electorates for four-year terms. The voting method fo ...

for the seat of

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

from 1977 to 1980.

Early life

Oliver was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

where his father was a tailor. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, his father decided to return the family to their grazing roots, and they moved to a sheep station in

Euston, New South Wales Euston is a small town on the banks of the Murray River, southern New South Wales, Australia in Balranald Shire. The twin town of Robinvale is on the other side of the river in the state of Victoria. At the , Euston had a population of 822 peop ...

when he was 12. At the age of 17, they moved to

Balranald Balranald is a town within the local government area of Balranald Shire, in the Riverina district of New South Wales, Australia. The town of Balranald is located where the Sturt Highway crosses the Murrumbidgee River in a remote, semi-desert ...

. In 1941, Oliver enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force during World War II. During army training, he first visited Alice Springs where he would later return. After his discharge from the army, he met and married Eleanor Lewis, a hairdresser. They lived in Melbourne for several years, then moved to the Northern Territory where Oliver worked as a pastoral inspector for the Australian public service.

Political career

He was the member for

in the

from 1977 to 1980. He was elected as a member of the

Country Liberal Party The Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory (CLP) is a centre-right political party in Australia's Northern Territory. In local politics it operates in a two-party system with the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It also contests federal ...

, but after losing preselection for the 1980 election resigned from the party and unsuccessfully ran for re-election as an independent.

References

1922 births 2005 deaths Members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Country Liberal Party members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Independent members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly 20th-century Australian politicians Australian Army soldiers Australian Army personnel of World War II {{Australia-Independent-politician-stub