- Jeff Bate
Henry Jefferson Percival "Jeff" Bate (
5 March 1906 ,Tilba Tilba -15 April 1984 ,Canberra ) was anAustralia n politician, representing theLiberal Party of Australia before becoming an independent in 1972. Jeff Bate was a son of Henry John Bate, a Member of theNew South Wales Legislative Assembly [ [http://parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/members.nsf/1fb6ebed995667c2ca256ea100825164/a0d67213863250a3ca256e2000149e63!OpenDocument Mr (Jeff) Henry Jefferson Percival BATE [Former Member ] ] , and his wife Lily Percival, a leading contralto. He was educated atNewington College (1918-1921) [Newington College Register of Past Students 1863-1998 (Syd, 1999) pp11] , The King's School and theUniversity of Sydney . He became a farmer at Bodalla, Wallaga Lake and Tilba Tilba. He won prizes for dairy fodder conservation at the Royal Agricultural Society show. He became director of the Bodalla Co-operative Dairy Company from 1927, later managing the cheese co-operative.He was a Councillor of the
Eurobodalla Shire Council 1929-1937, and its President 1936-37.During
World War II he served in the 2ndAustralian Imperial Forces as aLieutenant . He was a member of the Armoured Corps in 1940-45, and saw service in Egypt, Cyprus, the Middle East, New Guinea and New Britain.He followed his father's footsteps into the NSW Legislative Assembly, where he represented the electoral district of Wollondilly from 1938 to 1949. He moved to federal politics, and in 1949 he was elected as the House of Representatives member for the seat of Macarthur. Bate lost Liberal Party preselection in 1972 [http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/reps/dailys/dr010596.pdf] . He became an independent in October of that year, and was defeated at the December 1972 election by
John Kerin .He was married three times: in 1928 and 1958, but most notably on
19 February 1969 to Dame Zara Holt, the widow of the Prime MinisterHarold Holt who was presumed drowned in 1967.He died in
Canberra on15 April 1984 , aged 78. [cite web
title = Mr (Jeff) Henry Jefferson Percival Bate (1906 - 1984)
publisher =Parliament of New South Wales
url = http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/members.nsf/ec78138918334ce3ca256ea200077f5d/a0d67213863250a3ca256e2000149e63!OpenDocument
accessdate = 2006-11-04 ]References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.