Sir Arthur William "A.W." Coles (7 August 1892 – 14 June 1982) was a prominent Australian businessman and philanthropist, a son of

St James, Victoria St James is a town in northern Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Shire of Moira local government area, north of the state capital, Melbourne. At the , St James had a population of 132. The town of St James came into being as a re ...

shopkeeper George W. Coles (died 1932). With his brothers George James "G.J." (1885–1977), Kenneth Frank "K.F." (1896 –1985), Edgar Barton "E.B." (1899–1981), and Norman Cameron "N.C." Coles (1907–1989), A. W. Coles founded Coles Variety Stores in the 1920s, which was to become

Coles Group Coles Group Limited is an Australian public company operating several retail chains. Its chief operations are primarily concerned with the sale of food and groceries through its flagship supermarket chain Coles Supermarkets, and the sale of li ...

, one of the two largest supermarket chains in Australia. He served as

Lord Mayor of Melbourne This is a list of the mayors and lord mayors of the City of Melbourne, a local government area of Victoria, Australia. Mayors (1842–1902) Lord mayors (1902–1980) The title of "Lord Mayor" was conferred on the position of mayor by Ki ...

from 1938 to 1940. In 1940 he was elected to the

federal parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-gen ...

as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

from Henty. With Alexander Wilson, he held the balance of power, at first keeping the UAP- National government in office, but in 1941 switching sides to install a new

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 ...

government. In 1946 Coles was appointed chair of the

Australian National Airways Australian National Airways (ANA) was Australia's predominant aerial carrier from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s. The Holyman's Airways period On 19 March 1932 Flinders Island Airways began a regular aerial service using the Desoutter Mk.I ...

Commission, which founded

Trans Australia Airlines Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), renamed Australian Airlines in 1986, was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its merger with Qantas in September 1992. As a result of the "COBRA" (or Common Brand ...

(later known as Australian Airlines, which became the domestic arm of

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founde ...

Early life

Arthur Coles was born in

Geelong Geelong ( ) ( Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon ...

, Victoria and educated at the elite private school

The Geelong College , motto_translation = Thus one goes to the stars , established = , type = Independent, co-educational, day and boarding, Christian school , denomination = in association with the Uniting ...

. When

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

began, Coles enlisted as a private, fighting at

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles s ...

and on the Western Front in France, and was wounded on three occasions before being commissioned as a lieutenant.

Coles Variety Stores

Coles returned to Australia in 1919 and married Lillian Knight. He joined with two brothers and an uncle to open a variety store in Collingwood, a working-class suburb of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

. Working on the slogan "Nothing over 2/6", the business grew rapidly. The family opened a series of new Coles Variety Stores around the country, Arthur moving to Sydney in 1928 to open and manage the first one in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. In 1931, at the height of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, he returned to Melbourne to become managing director, a post he held until 1944. G. J. Coles & Co became the largest retailer in Australia.

Lord Mayor and federal politics

Coles became

in 1938, remaining in that position until 1940. Thereupon he resigned to stand for the federal seat of Henty as an independent candidate. Coles was one of the two independent parliamentarians (the other was Alexander Wilson) who held the balance of power through the early years of the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

. Both men crossed the floor in 1941 to remove the hapless UAP- Country Party government of

Arthur Fadden Sir Arthur William Fadden, (13 April 189421 April 1973) was an Australian politician who served as the 13th prime minister of Australia from 29 August to 7 October 1941. He was the leader of the Country Party from 1940 to 1958 and also served ...

: thereby ensuring the accession of the ALP's

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 ...

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 is ...

. In 1944, Coles retired from business and devoted himself to public works, becoming the chair of both the Commonwealth Rationing Commission and the War Damage Commission. With the end of the war, he resigned from the legislature to become chair of

British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines or BCPA, was an airline registered in New South Wales, Australia in June 1946 with headquarters in Sydney. It was formed by the governments of Australia (50%), New Zealand (30%) and the United Kingdom (2 ...

(BCPA) and the Australian National Airlines Commission (see

). He was appointed chair of the Melbourne Olympic Games Committee in 1952, and a member of the

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research. CSIRO works with leading organisations around the world. From its headquarters in Canberra, CSIRO ...

Advisory Council in 1956. Knighted in 1960, Coles lived mostly in retirement from 1965. He died in 1982, leaving three sons and three daughters.

References

National Library of Australia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coles, Arthur William 1892 births 1982 deaths Australian philanthropists Australian businesspeople in retailing People from Geelong Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Henty Independent members of the Parliament of Australia Australian Knights Bachelor Australian politicians awarded knighthoods People educated at Geelong College 20th-century Australian politicians 20th-century philanthropists