Фредерик Майкл Дали: Австралия саяхатшысының өмірі мен қызметі

Australian politician

Frederick Michael Daly (13 June 1912 – 2 August 1995) was an Australian politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1943 to 1975, representing the Labor Party. In the Whitlam government he was Leader of the House, Minister for Services and Property, and Minister for Administrative Services.

Daly was born on 13 June 1912 in Currabubula, New South Wales. He was the ninth of eleven children born to Margaret Jane (née Howard) and Michael Daly. His father, born in Ireland, was a farmer and grazier. Daly grew up on his family's farming property of After his father's death in 1923 the property was sold and the family moved to Sydney and settled in North Bondi. He attended Waverley College, where he "hated school and failed most of his examinations". He left school at the age of 13 and began working for Bennett & Wood, a bicycle manufacturing firm, as a messenger boy and clerk. During World War II Daly worked for the Department of Navy under the orders of the Manpower Directorate. He was an official in the New South Wales branch of the Federated Clerks' Union of Australia. This put Daly in charge of, among other things, the Australian Electoral Commission, and he tried to pass legislation which would have abolished the malapportionment of electorates in favour of rural areas (see Australian electoral system), but his bills were defeated in the Senate. After the 1974 election he was able to get many of his reforms to the electoral system passed. He was also Leader of the House throughout the Whitlam government. After the Whitlam government was dismissed by the Governor General, Sir John Kerr in November 1975, Daly announced he would retire from parliament and not contest the December election. He delayed his announcement until the last minute, to ensure that Whitlam's son Tony Whitlam was able to secure endorsement for Grayndler without opposition.

In retirement Daly published two volumes of humorous memoirs, From Curtin to Kerr and The Politician who Laughed. He remained active in the New South Wales Labor Party until his death in 1995, when he was accorded a state funeral at St Brigid's Church, Marrickville, attended by a huge crowd of Labor loyalists. At the time of his death, he was the last surviving person to have served as a member of parliament during the Curtin and Forde governments and the surviving former MP with the earliest date of first election.