Sir William Edward Knox OSJ, KSJI (14 December 1927 – 22 September 2001) was born in

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in ...

and was the Member of the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland 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 Assembl ...

representing the district of

Nundah Nundah (previously called German Station) is an inner suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It contains the neighbourhood of Toombul. In the , Nundah had a population of 12,141 people. Prior to European settlement, Nundah was i ...

for the

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between from 1957 to 1989. He was Liberal leader in the

from 1976 to 1978 and again from 1983 to 1988 and was given life membership that same year.

Early life

He was born in

Kew, Victoria Kew (;) is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km east from Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Boroondara local government area. Kew recorded a population of 24,499 at the 2021 census. A city ...

to Edward Knox and Bessie Alice (née Thomas). Knox was one of the founders of the Liberal Party in Queensland and together with Sir

James Killen Sir Denis James "Jim" Killen, (23 November 1925 – 12 January 2007) was an Australian politician and a Liberal Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from December 1955 to August 1983, representing the Division of Moreton in Q ...

established the Young Liberal movement in this state in 1949. A company secretary and manager by profession, Knox was Vice President of the Queensland Liberal Party between 1956 and 1957.

Political career

Member of Parliament

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

he elected as the member for

defeating

Queensland Labor Party The Queensland Labor Party (QLP) was a political party of Queensland, Australia formed in 1957 by a breakaway group of the then ruling Labor Party Government after the expulsion of Premier Vince Gair. In 1962 the party became the Queensland se ...

incumbent Jim Hadley, taking advantage of a split within Labor.

Government Minister

Knox entered the Ministry in 1965 as Transport Minister. He would later hold the portfolios of Health, Justice and

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

. After the retirement of Peter Delamothe in 1971 he was elected Deputy Liberal Leader, and in 1976 he succeeded

Gordon Chalk Sir Gordon William Wesley Chalk, Gordon William (Chalkie) (1913 ...

as leader. The Liberal's lost a net 6 seats at the 1977 election which led to the his ousting as leader in favour of

Llew Edwards Llewellyn "Llew" Edwards (22 October 1894 – 1965) was a Welsh boxer who fought professionally between 1913 and 1922. He is most noted for winning both the British and the British Empire featherweight boxing titles in 1915 and for an out ...

in the hope that he would be more publicly assertive with Premier Bjelke-Petersen.

Return to the Leadership

When the Ginger Group replaced

with

Terry White Terrence Anthony "Terry" White (born 3 September 1936) is an Australian pharmacist, businessman, and former politician. White achieved notoriety when, as Queensland state leader of the Liberal Party he terminated the longstanding coalition agr ...

in 1983, Knox joined the rest of the Liberals in moving to crossbench. Following their heavy defeat at the 1983 election he was once again elected as leader to lead the rump group of 8 members. He was replaced as leader by his deputy

Angus Innes John Angus Mackenzie Innes (born 22 May 1939) was a Queensland politician and leader of the state Liberal Party. Biography Innes was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland in 1978 representing the Brisbane-area seat of Sherwood at ...

in 1988, and at the

1989 election The following elections occurred in the year 1989. Africa * 1989 Beninese parliamentary election * 1989 Botswana general election * 1989 Equatorial Guinean presidential election * 1989 People's Republic of the Congo parliamentary election * 19 ...

he was by defeated the ALP's

Phil Heath Phillip Jerrod Heath (born December 18, 1979) is an American International Federation of BodyBuilders, IFBB professional Bodybuilding, bodybuilder. He is a seven-time Mr. Olympia winner, having won the competition every year from 2011 to 201 ...

on a 13.4% swing.

Post Political career

Upon losing his seat to the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

he became involved in community groups.

Personal life

He had 2 sons, 2 daughters with his wife Doris Ross. He was State Chairman of the St John Ambulance Association and the President of the Association of Independent Schools of Queensland. A state funeral was held for him.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knox, William 1927 births 2001 deaths Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Queensland Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Australian Knights Bachelor Australian politicians awarded knighthoods Deputy Premiers of Queensland Treasurers of Queensland Attorneys-General of Queensland 20th-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian businesspeople