William Victor "Big Bill" McCall (24 May 1908 – 19 August 1968) was an Australian politician and businessman. He was a member of the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...

(UAP) and held the seat of

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austr ...

in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

from 1934 to 1943.

Early life

McCall was born on 24 May 1908 in

Chatswood, New South Wales Chatswood is a major business and residential district in the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 10 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district. It is the administrative centre of the lo ...

. He was the second child born to Hilda Mary (née Bowman) and William James McCall; his father was a bank officer. McCall attended Sydney Grammar School, leaving in 1924 following his father's death. He subsequently entered business as a skin-trade and wool-buyer.

Politics

McCall was persuaded to enter politics by the difficulties businesses experienced during the Great Depression. In 1931, he attempted to gain pre-selection for the federal seat of

for the

, losing to

William Holman William Arthur Holman (4 August 1871 – 5 June 1934) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1913 to 1920. He came to office as the leader of the Labor Party, but was expelled from the party in the split o ...

. He was selected the following year to contest a by-election for the safe

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 ...

seat of East Sydney, losing to

Lang Labor Lang Labor was a faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) consisting of the supporters of Jack Lang, who served two terms as Premier of New South Wales and was the party's state leader from 1923 to 1939. Following the expulsion of the N ...

Eddie Ward Edward John Ward (7 March 189931 July 1963) was an Australian politician who represented the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in federal parliament for over 30 years. He was the member for East Sydney for all but six-and-a-half weeks from 1931 u ...

by only 173 votes. Following Holman's death in 1934, 26-year-old McCall was selected to run for Martin. He had gained a reputation as an impressive public speaker, and was elected to

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members o ...

for Martin in the elections of that year. He was also elected to Sydney Municipal Council in 1935. McCall was generally supportive of the government of his party leader

Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the 10th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1932 until his death in 1939. He began his career in the Australian Labor Party (ALP), ...

, but became the leader of a back-bench revolt against

Thomas Paterson Thomas Paterson (20 November 1882 – 24 January 1952) was an Australian politician who served as deputy leader of the Country Party from 1929 to 1937. He held ministerial office in the governments of Stanley Bruce and Joseph Lyons, represent ...

's ruling in 1936 that Mabel Freer could not enter Australia. He was successful in persuading the government to reverse the decision, after revealing Paterson's mishandling of the case. In 1938 he enlisted in the

Militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

; he was commissioned in 1939 and in 1940 transferred to the

Reserve of Officers The Army Reserve is the active-duty volunteer reserve force of the British Army. It is separate from the Regular Reserve whose members are ex-Regular personnel who retain a statutory liability for service. The Army Reserve was known as the Ter ...

. He supported an "all-out" effort during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

against both

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and Japan. McCall, together with several other government back-benchers, became disillusioned with the leadership of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Robert Menzies, and was disappointed when Menzies failed to form an all-party government with the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...

after the 1940 election. On 28 August 1941, he declared that unless Menzies resigned, he would ensure that the government's majority in the House was removed. Menzies resigned the following day. In the 1943 election, McCall was defeated as part of the Labor landslide that brought

John Curtin John Curtin (8 January 1885 – 5 July 1945) was an Australian politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Australia from 1941 until his death in 1945. He led the country for the majority of World War II, including all but the last few ...

to the premiership, losing to

Fred Daly Fred Daly may refer to: * Fred Daly (American football), American football player at Yale, head football coach at Williams College (1913–1914) * Fred Daly (politician) Frederick Michael Daly (13 June 1912 – 2 August 1995) was an Aust ...

. He became a real estate agent, and in 1967 created a sensation when he offered almost $2 million for a site in

Martin Place, Sydney Martin Place is a pedestrian mall in the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. Martin Place has been described as the "civic heart" of Sydney.

Later life

In 1954, McCall succeeded Arthur Moore as chairman of Coca-Cola Bottlers (Sydney) Pty Ltd. At the time of his appointment he was also a director of Australian Provincial Assurance Association Ltd.

Personal life

McCall married Georgina Bessie Dart at Chatswood on 6 June 1934. He was widowed in 1961; on 24 October the following year, he married secretary Mavis Michele Dearing. Together with his chauffeur, McCall left Pittwater on 19 August 1968 in his speedboat; the vessel was found upturned and abandoned the next day near Collaroy, and the two men were presumed drowned. McCall was survived by his wife and daughter, together with the son and daughter of his first marriage. Although reputedly a millionaire, McCall left an estate of $60,000 ().

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCall, William 1908 births 1968 deaths United Australia Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Martin 20th-century Australian politicians Accidental deaths in New South Wales Boating accident deaths People educated at Sydney Grammar School