Vincent Patrick Durick (3 January 1916 – 21 February 1996) was an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly 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 Ho ...

from 1964 to 1984, representing the electorate of Lakemba. Durick was born in

Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...

, and attended the Railway Town convent school and Marist Brothers College. He moved to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

at the age of 17 to attend the

Sydney Teachers College The Sydney Teachers' College was a tertiary education institution that trained school teachers in Sydney, Australia, Sydney, Australia. It existed from 1906 until the end of 1981, when it became the Sydney Institute of Education, a part of the ne ...

, before returning to Broken Hill to teach at Broken Hill Central School. He served in the

Second Australian Imperial Force The Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF, or Second AIF) was the name given to the volunteer expeditionary force of the Australian Army in the Second World War. It was formed following the declaration of war on Nazi Germany, with an initial ...

from 1941 to 1944 before being discharged on medical grounds, and returned to teaching at North Broken Hill. In 1946, he relocated from rural Euston to teach at Lakemba Public School in suburban Sydney. He transferred to the state high school system in 1949, teaching variously at Bowral, Homebush Boys High School, Fairfield, and James Cook High school before entering politics. Durick entered parliament at a 1964 by-election following the death of the incumbent local member,

Stan Wyatt Stanislaus Wyatt (3 April 1894 – 26 July 1964) was an Australian politician and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1950 until his death in 1964. He was a member of the Labor Party (ALP). Wyatt was born in West Maitla ...

. Lakemba was a safe seat for the Labor Party, and Durick was re-elected seven times. Durick served as caucus returning officer for the crucial 1973 leadership ballot that saw

Neville Wran Neville Kenneth Wran, (11 October 1926 – 20 April 2014) was an Australian politician who was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1986. He was the national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and chairman of ...

win the Labor leadership from

Pat Hills Patrick Darcy Hills (31 December 1917 – 22 April 1992) was a New South Wales politician. He served in various high offices across the state most notably the Deputy Premier of New South Wales, Leader of the Opposition and as the Lord Mayor of ...

; though a Hills supporter, Durick resolved a tied vote by ruling that Wran had won by virtue of leading on the first count. He did not hold party, parliamentary or ministerial office; however, he narrowly missed out on becoming

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

on one occasion when his rival's name was drawn from a hat. Durick retired at the 1984 state election, and was succeeded by

Wes Davoren Westby James "Wes" Davoren (5 August 1928 – 21 September 2010) was an Australian politician. He was a Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch), Labor member for Electoral district of Lakemba, Lakemba in the New South Wales Legislativ ...

. Durick died in February 1996 at

Lidcombe Lidcombe is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lidcombe is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Cumberland Council, with a small industrial part in the north ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Durick, Vince 1916 births 1996 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians Australian Army personnel of World War II