- George Gray (Australian politician)
George Henry Gray (
2 October 1903 ? –2 August 1967 ) was anAustralia n politician.Early life
Gray claimed to have been born at
Hay, New South Wales on2 October 1903 to bank manager George Henry Gray and his wife Priscilla Maud Kerr. He grew up near Orange and was educated at Burwood Public School inSydney , then becoming a grocer's assistant at Thornleigh. He later became a customs officer atShanghai inChina in the mid 1920s.Gray returned to Australia around 1926 and moved to
Queensland , becoming a farmer and organiser for theDouglas Credit Party . On4 August 1939 he was the leader of a raid comprising thirty-seven members of the League for Social Justice on Parliament House in the Queensland capital ofBrisbane . The raiders demanded lowerunemployment and better conditions for primary producers from the government. Gray and the others were arrested forunlawful assembly but were acquitted at the subsequent trial. Later, he claimed to have been spying on the league for intelligence authorities. On20 April 1944 he married Elsa Noelen Braham Stratton, aged 19, at Woollahra in Sydney.Military service
Gray was mobilised on
29 May 1940 and served in Queensland andPapua New Guinea . In May 1942 he was commissioned in theAustralian Imperial Force , and on12 December 1944 he transferred to the Reserve of Officers as a captain. Returning to Brisbane, he became an accountant for Queensland Cement & Lime Co. and owned a business (run by his wife Elsa) at Bowen Hills.Return from the military
In 1946, the Grays moved to Toowoomba, where Gray managed Co-operative Sales and Service Co. and joined the
Australian Labor Party . Having formed the Roseneath Pastoral Company in 1950 with two associates, he began dairy farming near Laidley. Unfortunate weather and a fire in May 1951 that burnt Gray's house down compromised the venture. In 1955 he became secretary of the Rockhampton Agricultural Society.Federal politics
In 1961, Gray was elected to the
Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for Capricornia. In parliament he was chiefly concerned with northern development and defence. He designed a combined tank and tank-carrier for the army, which received serious consideration.Gray was an elder of the John Knox
Presbyterian Church in Rockhampton, and was ateetotaller . On2 August 1967 he died ofpulmonary oedema at Rockhampton and was buried in the North Rockhampton cemetery; he was survived by his wife, three sons, and three daughters. His wife Elsa ("Bray") was an alderman with Rockhampton City Council (1973-91) and was State secretary of the Australian Local Government Women's Association for eight years.References
*Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Brown |first=Elaine |authorlink=|year=1996|id=A140351b.htm|title= Gray, George Henry (1903 - 1967) |accessdate=2008-07-13
Persondata
NAME=Gray, George Henry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Australia n politician
DATE OF BIRTH=2 October 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH=Hay, New South Wales
DATE OF DEATH=2 August 1967
PLACE OF DEATH=Rockhampton, Queensland
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