William John McKell

William John McKell

Sir William John McKell , GCMG , KStJ (born September 26, 1891 in Pambula , New South Wales , †  January 11, 1985 in Sydney , New South Wales) was an Australian politician and u. a. twelfth Governor General of Australia .

Early life

McKell was born in Pambula , New South Wales , the son of a butcher. He attended Bourke Street Public School in Sydney and became a boilermaker. From 1915 he was senior union secretary of the Boilermakers' Union in New South Wales.

Political career

New South Wales

For the Redfern constituency he was elected in 1917 as a candidate for the Australian Labor Party in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly . He kept this seat until his appointment as governor general in 1947. Only in the period from 1920 to 1927 at the time of proportional representation did McKell stand for the constituency of Botany. He married his wife Mary Pye in 1920. He studied law during his parliamentary term and became a barrister in 1925 . In the laboratory governments of Jack Lang he was Minister of Justice (1925-1927 and 1931-1932), as well as local minister (1930-1931).

In the 1930s McKell was opposition leader in the Labor Party of New South Wales against its own chairman Jack Lang due to poor election results, whom he drove in 1939 as a party leader and opposition leader in the state. In the 1941 elections McKell achieved a convincing victory with his party in New South Wales and he became Prime Minister of the state.

During World War II , McKell became a close associate of Prime Ministers John Curtin and Ben Chifley . He was also close friends with the latter. In February 1947, Chifley received from King George VI. formal approval for McKell's appointment as governor-general . At the time, McKell was still Prime Minister of New South Wales, but had already announced his desire to retire from active politics.

Governor General

Chifley believed that Henry's successor , Duke of Gloucester , should be an Australian. As with the appointment of Sir Isaac Isaacs , there were protests from the Conservatives and from London , but the days when the British King could dictate the election of the Governor-General to the Australian Prime Minister were over. After McKell showed great respect for the Crown and Great Britain after his appointment , he also managed to appease the critics.

McKell sparked great controversy in 1951 with his decision to dissolve the House of Representatives and the Senate at the request of the Liberal Prime Minister Robert Menzies . By then, the Australian Labor Party , of which McKell had previously belonged, had regained a majority in the Senate, but unlike most Labor MPs, McKell's position was that the people should re-elect the government.

Equally controversial in the Labor Party was McKell's decision to have King George VI. to accept the accolade. The Labor Party, as a workers' party, pursued the policy of severely separating itself from the British monarchy. From 1951 McKell was allowed to call himself Sir , but this honor was not formally bestowed on him until 1953 when he was able to travel to Great Britain. Since the king had died in the meantime, Elizabeth II performed the ceremony.

McKell retired from office in May 1953. From June 1956 to 1957 he worked in the Reid Commission , which drafted the Malaysian constitution.

Late years

McKell lived in Sydney for another 30 years and died there in 1985.

Web links

Commons : William John McKell  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

• Biography u. Election results William John McKell parliament.nsv.gov.au