David Fairbairn

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David Fairbairn (1961)

David Eric Fairbairn , KBE , DFC (born March 3, 1917 in Claygate , Surrey , England - † June 1, 1994 in Canberra ), was an Australian politician of the Liberal Party of Australia (LP) and diplomat who was a member of the House of Representatives and Minister several times. He was also ambassador to the Netherlands between 1977 and 1980 .

Life

David Eric Fairbairn was a grandson of George Fairbairn , who was also a member of the House of Representatives from 1906 to 1913 , and of the Senate from 1917 to 1923 , and of Edmund Jowett , who was a member of the House from 1917 to 1922. His uncle James Fairbairn was a member of the House of Representatives from 1933 to 1940, Minister of Aviation and Minister of Civil Aviation from 1939 to 1940, and was killed in a plane crash in Canberra on August 13, 1940 . After attending the Geelong Grammar School , he graduated from Jesus College at the University of Cambridge and in 1939 took over the Dunraven farm in Woomargama , a town in the South West Slopes in New South Wales . At the beginning of the Second World War he joined the Light Cavalry Regiment 21st Light Horse Riverina Regiment in 1939 and was accepted into the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1941 . After basic training, he took part in the Battle of New Guinea (January 23, 1942 to September 13, 1945) and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) as a captain (flight lieutenant) in 1944 . At the end of the war he was seriously injured in 1945.

On December 10, 1949, Fairbairn became a member of the House of Representatives for the first time for the Liberal Party of Australia (LP) and represented in this for more than 25 years until 1975 the newly created constituency of Farrer in New South Wales . On August 4, 1962, he assumed his first ministerial office as Minister for Air in the Menzies VII government and held this office from December 18, 1963 to June 10, 1964 in the Menzies VIII government . In the course of a cabinet reshuffle, he then served in the eighth Menzies government between June 10, 1964 and January 26, 1966 as Minister for National Development (Minister for National Development) . He remained in this post from January 26, 1966 to December 14, 1966 in the Holt I government and between December 14, 1966 and December 19, 1967 in the Holt II government . He also held the office of Minister for National Development from December 19, 1967 to January 10, 1968 in the McEwen cabinet , from January 10, 1968 to February 28, 1968 in the Gorton II government, and from February 28, 1968 to December 12. November 1969 holds Gorton II government. After the elections of October 25, 1969, he ran on November 7, 1969 against Prime Minister John Gorton and William McMahon for the office of chairman of the Liberal Party. However, he took only third place after Gorton and McMahon and then resigned from his ministerial office on November 12, 1969. After his internal party defeat, he declared:

“I have given deep thought and consideration to this decision. I have made it reluctantly. My sole concern in coming to it is the future of the Liberal Party, the Government and the Nation. "

“I have thought deeply and examined this decision. I did it reluctantly. My only concern is the future of the Liberal Party, the government and the nation. "

According to the then Minister for Shipping and Transport, Ian Sinclair , David Fairbairn was against Gorton's centralism and in particular against his attempt to claim sovereignty over Australia's territorial waters and the continental shelf for the Commonwealth of Nations .

On March 22, 1971, Fairbairn returned to the cabinet and served in the McMahon government until August 20, 1971, first as Minister for Education and Science (then between August 13, 1971 and May 5, 1971). December 1972 as Minister of Defense , after the coalition of Liberal Party and Country Party had previously suffered a defeat by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the elections of December 2, 1972 . He decided not to run again in the elections of December 13, 1975 and resigned after 26 years from the House of Representatives, whereupon his party friend and later Federal Minister Wal Fife won the Farrer constituency . On December 31, 1976 he was made Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) and from then on carried the suffix "Sir". As the successor to Frederick Blakeney , he became ambassador to the Netherlands in 1977 and remained in this post until 1980, when James Cumes succeeded him. His marriage to Ruth Fairbairn had three daughters.

Web links

Commons : David Fairbairn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Australia: Ministers of Defense (Rulers)
  2. ↑ Knights and Dames in Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
personal data
SURNAME Fairbairn, David
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fairbairn, David Eric (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian politician and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH March 3, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Claygate , Surrey , England
DATE OF DEATH June 1, 1994
Place of death Canberra