Ronald Thomas Dalton Neville (2 December 1929 – 31 May 1986) was an Australia-born

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

n politician and businessman. He served as a member of the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

and National Parliament from 1964 to 1977.

Biography

Neville was born in December 1929 in Moree, New South Wales and was educated at De La Salle College in Armidale and Saint Ignatius' College in Sydney. After leaving school in 1947, he earned a diploma from the

Australian School of Pacific Administration The Australian School of Pacific Administration (ASOPA) was a tertiary institution established by the Australian Government to train administrators and later school teachers to work in Papua New Guinea. It became the International Training Insti ...

. He then joined the Department of Native Affairs in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea as a cadet patrol officer in 1948. He served in

Milne Bay Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, south-eastern Papua New Guinea. More than long and over wide, Milne Bay is a sheltered deep-water harbor accessible via Ward Hunt Strait. It is surrounded by the heavily wooded Stirling Range to t ...

, Morobe, Sepik and Southern Highlands, rising to become a Senior Assistant District Officer.''Members of the House of Assembly'', p27 He also married Colleen Wren and had six children.''Members of the Third House of Assembly'', p53 In 1963 Neville resigned from the civil service to contest the first elections to the

in February–March 1964. He was elected from the West Papua Special constituency, defeating incumbent MLC Ron Slaughter. During his first term in parliament he served as vice chairman of the Public Accounts and Public Works committees.''Members of the Second House of Assembly'', p49 He was re-elected unopposed in the 1968 elections from the Southern Highlands Regional constituency,Plenty of variety in P-NG's second general election
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', February 1968, p24 and served on the District Advisory committee. He was re-elected again in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

from the renamed Southern Highlands Provincial constituency, and was awarded an MBE in the

1974 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1974 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were published on 7 June 1974 for ...

. Following independence in 1975, the House of Assembly was renamed the National Parliament. He retired from politics prior to the

1977 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1977. Africa * 1977 Afars and Issas Constituent Assembly election * 1977 Algerian legislative election * 1977 Gambian general election * 1976–1977 Guinea-Bissau legislative election * 1977 Malagasy ...

to concentrate on his business. He died in May 1986 when a truck he was driving hit a bus on the road between Mendi and Mount Hagen. His son Tim later also became an MP.Neville brothers to contest seats in Milne Bay
''Papua New Guinea Post-Courier'', 2 May 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neville, Ron 1929 births People educated at Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview Australian emigrants to Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinean civil servants Members of the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea Members of the Order of the British Empire Members of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea 20th-century Papua New Guinean businesspeople 1986 deaths