William Alan Manning (13 April 1903 – 1 October 1986) was an Australian businessman and politician who was a Country Party member of the Legislative Assembly 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 1956 to 1974, representing the seat of Narrogin. Manning was born in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

to Emily Elizabeth (née Lightfoot) and Albert Wheaton Manning. After leaving school, he trained as an accountant. He subsequently began working for the family business (a

draper Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. History Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period ...

y in Narrogin), which he eventually took over. Manning was elected to the Narrogin Municipal Council in 1932, and served until 1941. He was later also mayor of the town from 1947 to 1951.William Alan Manning
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 13 May 2016. Manning entered parliament at the 1956 state election. He was elected with a

two-party-preferred In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...

figure of 65.5 percent, despite polling only 21.4 percent on

first preferences In certain ranked-voting systems, a first-preference vote (or first preference, 1st preference, or primary vote) is the individual voter's first choice amongst (possibly) many. In certain ranked systems such as Instant-Runoff Voting or Single T ...

(and initially being outpolled by another Country Party candidate). After the 1959 election, where he increased his majority, Manning was made deputy chairman of committees in the Legislative Assembly. He was promoted to chairman of committees after the 1965 election, and served in the position until the end of 1970. During his time in parliament, Manning once gave a speech with a box of day-old chicks at his feet, to protest a decision by the Western Australian Government Railways to ban passengers from travelling with them.THE LATE MR W. A. MANNING, MLA , ''Condolence Motion''
Hansard (Legislative Assembly of Western Australia), 7 October 1986. He left politics at the 1974 election, and died in October 1986, aged 83. He had married Isabella Rae Rattray in 1928, with whom he had four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manning, William 1903 births 1986 deaths Mayors of places in Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia Politicians from Perth, Western Australia Western Australian local councillors