William Willesee
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William Francis Willesee (26 December 1911 – 18 August 2000) was an Australian politician who served as a Labor Party member of the Legislative Council of
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
from 1954 to 1974. He was a minister in the government of
John Tonkin John Trezise Tonkin AC (2 February 1902 – 20 October 1995), popularly known as "Honest John", was an Australian politician. A member of the Labor Party, he served as a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for a record 44 ...
.


Early life

Willesee was born in
Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
,
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, to Ethel May (née Flinders) and William Robert Willesee. His father ran for parliament unsuccessfully on three occasions in the 1920s, while his younger brother,
Don Willesee Donald Robert Willesee (14 April 19169 September 2003) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and served as a Senator for Western Australia from 1950 to 1975. He held ministerial office in the Whitlam ...
, was a senator. Moving to Western Australia as a small child, Willesee attended various schools in the country, and later studied accounting at Perth Technical College. He was employed as a clerk by the Carnarvon Municipality from 1936 to 1942, and then joined the Volunteer Defence Corps, working as a pay clerk. After the war's end, Willesee worked for periods in a state government department and in a private transport firm, eventually returning to Carnarvon in 1951 to work again as town clerk. He was involved with both the Clerks' Union and the
Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the 1880s and currently has approximately 80,000 members. It has exer ...
.Garnet Barrington Wood
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 15 June 2016.


Politics and later life

At the 1954 Legislative Council election, Willesee won election to North Province, joining two other Labor MPs ( Don Barker and Harry Strickland) in the three-member constituency. He was re-elected in 1960, but North Province was reduced to two members at the 1965 state election, and he consequently transferred to the new
North-East Metropolitan Province The North-East Metropolitan Province was a two-member electoral province of the Western Australian Legislative Council, located in metropolitan Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is ...
. In July 1966, Willesee replaced
Frank Wise Frank Joseph Scott Wise AO (30 May 1897 – 29 June 1986) was a Labor Party politician who was the 16th Premier of Western Australia. He took office on 31 July 1945 in the closing stages of the Second World War, following the resignation of ...
as leader of the Labor Party in the Legislative Council. When Labor won the 1971 state election, he became Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council, and was also made Minister for Community Welfare (a new title) in the new ministry formed by John Tonkin. He held both positions until February 1973, when he resigned them due to ill health.COUNCIL - Tuesday, 5 September 2000
– Hansard (Western Australia). Retrieved 7 July 2016. Willesee left parliament at the 1974 state election. He died in Perth on August 18, 2000, aged 88.


See also

* Tonkin Ministry


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willesee, Bill 1911 births 2000 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council Politicians from Adelaide 20th-century Australian politicians Volunteer Defence Corps soldiers