Rupert James Kentish (26 June 1914 – 20 December 1978) was an Australian politician. He was a Country Party member of the

Northern Territory Legislative Council The Northern Territory Legislative Council was the partly elected governing body of the Northern Territory of Australia from 1947 until its replacement by the fully elected Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in 1974. Prior to 1947, there ha ...

from 1968 to 1974 and a

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 ...

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 ...

from 1974 to 1977. Kentish was born at

The Gums, Queensland The Gums is a rural town and locality in the Western Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , The Gums had a population of 159 people. Geography The town is at the junction of the Leichhardt Highway and the Surat Developmental Road on th ...

and educated at the local school. He left school at 14 and worked as a timber-cutter and cane-cutter in North Queensland and for an

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

dairy. In 1938, he went to the Northern Territory as a missionary with the Methodist Overseas Mission, first at

Goulburn Island The Goulburn Islands are a group of small islands and islets in the Arafura Sea off the coast of Arnhem Land in Northern Territory of Australia. The largest islands are Weyirra (North Goulburn Island) and Warruwi (South Goulburn Island), where t ...

Yirrkala Yirrkala is a small community in East Arnhem Region, Northern Territory, Australia, southeast of the large mining town of Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Nhulunbuy, on the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land. Its population comprises predominantly ...

Milingimbi Island Milingimbi Island, also Yurruwi, is the largest island of the Crocodile Islands group off the coast of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. Location Milingimbi lies approximately east of Darwin and west of Nhulunbuy. History Aborigin ...

Gosford, New South Wales Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council (New South Wales), Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast region, about north of Sydney central ...

(during a World War II evacuation) and then

Croker Island Croker Island is an island in the Arafura Sea off the coast of the Northern Territory, Australia, northeast of Darwin. It was the site of the Croker Island Mission between 1940 and 1968. Indigenous peoples At the earliest time of European co ...

. In 1950, he relocated to the Darwin area, assisting a colleague in establishing an experimental farm and then setting up his own dairy and cattle farm. He was heavily involved in promoting the agricultural industry in the Northern Territory, and in later years ran a caravan park. He was a member of the Darwin Hospital Advisory Board, a prominent member of the Rotary Club of Darwin, and was involved in the Darwin Rotary Rodeo and the Darwin Show Society. He was narrowly elected as a Country Party member of the

in 1968, defeating George Winunduj, the first indigenous candidate for the Council, by 126 votes. Kentish served on the Legislative Council until its abolition in 1974. At the advent of self-governance, he was then elected as the

member for

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of ...

in the

from 1974 until 1977, when he was soundly defeated by future Labor leader Bob Collins. An arch-conservative, he claimed in 1970 that the conservative ''

Northern Territory News The ''Northern Territory News'' (also known and branded as the ''NT News'') is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published every week from Monday to Saturday. It prim ...

'' was "communist propaganda" that was "helping to undermine the spiritual and moral life of Australia", claimed in 1971 that there was "not one Aborigine or part-Aborigine who is suitable to sit in the egislativeCouncil", and in 1973 was the only Country Party MP to vote against legalising nude bathing, declaring that "nudity had led to the fall of the Roman Empire". Although he had a history of controversial statements about indigenous people, his wife, Maluda, was a

Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders () are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, they are often grouped ...

woman;

Les MacFarlane John Leslie Stuart MacFarlane (26 March 1919 – 15 January 1986) was an Australian politician. He was the Country Liberal Party member for Elsey in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1974 to 1983. He was Speaker from 1975 t ...

said in parliament upon his death that it "amused him to be called racist...'look at me, he would say...a racist and yet happily married to an Aborigine'. His CLP colleague,

Hyacinth Tungutalum Hyacinth Gabriel Tungutalum (14 August 1946 – 7 April 2009) was an Australian politician and the first Indigenous Australian to be elected to a state or territory parliament. A traditional owner on the Tiwi Islands, north of Darwin, Tung ...

, the first Indigenous Australian MP in the Assembly, later said "Aborigines in particular should honour Rupert Kentish ... he did a lot for us". He died in 1978.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kentish, Rupert 1914 births 1978 deaths Members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Members of the Northern Territory Legislative Council Country Liberal Party members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly 20th-century Australian politicians