Alexander Carpendale "Sandy" McPhie (10 February 1929 – 5 December 2015) was an Australian politician. He was a National Party member of the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...

from 1983 to 1989, representing the electorate of Toowoomba North.

Early life

McPhie was born in

Charleville Charleville can refer to: Australia * Charleville, Queensland, a town in Australia **Charleville railway station, Queensland France * Charleville, Marne, a commune in Marne, France *Charleville-Mézières, a commune in Ardennes, France ** ...

to Hector Kitchener McPhie and Florence Nellie, ''née'' Shanasy. He attended North Toowoomba State School and

Toowoomba Grammar School , motto_translation = Faithful in All Things , city = Toowoomba , state = Queensland , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Independent, day & boarding , denomination = Non-denominational , established = ...

before studying at The King's School in

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

, where he was School Captain in 1947 He then received a Certificate of Agricultural Science from

Queensland Agricultural College University of Queensland Gatton Campus is a heritage-listed university campus of the University of Queensland at Warrego Highway, Lawes, Gatton, Lockyer Valley Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1897 to 1960s. It is also known a ...

, and was later an external student with the University of New England. After working in the family's stock and station company ''McPhie and Co'', and for AML and F, he took up land near

Chinchilla Chinchillas are either of two species (''Chinchilla chinchilla'' and ''Chinchilla lanigera'') of crepuscular rodents of the parvorder Caviomorpha. They are slightly larger and more robust than ground squirrels, and are native to the Andes mount ...

where he farmed sheep. In 1957 he crashed a Tiger Moth biplane and spent several years recovering. In 1962 he joined the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

as an air traffic control officer, eventually gaining the rank of

wing commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

, and being in charge of all air traffic control for the Australian Air Force, Navy and Army. He retired from the RAAF in 1981 and returned to his hometown of Toowoomba.

Politics

In 1983 McPhie ran for the National Party and was elected to the

as the member for Toowoomba North, serving two terms until his defeat in 1989.

Later life

In 1989 he was appointed Ceann Cath of

Clan MacFie Clan Macfie is a Highlands Scottish Clan. Since 1981, the clan has been officially registered with the Court of the Lord Lyon, which is the heraldic authority of Scotland. The clan is considered an armigerous clan because even though the ...

. He died at Toowoomba on 5 December 2015.

References

1929 births 2015 deaths National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Queensland Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Air traffic controllers Royal Australian Air Force officers 20th-century Australian military personnel People from Chinchilla, Queensland People from Charleville, Queensland People educated at The King's School, Parramatta {{Australia-National-politician-stub