Sir Arthur William "A.W." Coles (7 August 1892 – 14 June 1982) was a prominent Australian businessman and philanthropist, a son of

St James, Victoria St James is a town in northern Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Shire of Moira local government area, north of the state capital, Melbourne. At the , St James had a population of 132. The town of St James came into being as a r ...

shopkeeper George W. Coles (died 1932). With his brothers George James "G.J." (1885–1977), Kenneth Frank "K.F." (1896 –1985), Edgar Barton "E.B." (1899–1981), and Norman Cameron "N.C." Coles (1907–1989), A. W. Coles founded Coles Variety Stores in the 1920s, which was to become

Coles Group Coles Group Limited is an Australian public company operating several retail chains. Its chief operations are primarily concerned with the sale of food and groceries through its flagship supermarket chain Coles Supermarkets, and the sale of li ...

, one of the two largest supermarket chains in Australia. He served as

Lord Mayor of Melbourne This is a list of mayors and lord mayors of the City of Melbourne, a local government area of Victoria, Australia. Mayors (1842–1902) Lord mayors (1902–1980) The title of "Lord Mayor" was conferred on the position of mayor by King ...

from 1938 to 1940. In 1940 he was elected to the

federal parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Parliament of the Commonwealth and also known as the Federal Parliament) is the federal legislature of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch of Australia (represented by the governor ...

as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

from Henty. With Alexander Wilson, he held the balance of power, at first keeping the

UAP UAP may refer to: * Unidentified flying object, a.k.a. Unidentified Aerial (or Anomalous) Phenomenon People * Unlicensed assistive personnel Places * Yap Island Facilities and structures * Tour UAP, an office skyscraper in La Défense, Paris ...

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

government in office, but in 1941 switching sides to install a new

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

government. In 1946 Coles was appointed chair of the

Australian National Airways Australian National Airways (ANA) was Australia's predominant aerial carrier from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s. The Holyman's Airways period On 19 March 1932 Flinders Island Airways began a regular aerial service using the Desoutter Mk.I ...

Commission, which founded

Trans Australia Airlines Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), renamed Australian Airlines in 1986, was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its merger with Qantas in September 1992. As a result of the "COBRA" (or Common Bran ...

(later known as Australian Airlines, which became the domestic arm of

Qantas Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...

Early life

Arthur Coles was born in

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

, Victoria and educated at the elite private school

The Geelong College The Geelong College is an Australian Independent school, independent and co-educational, Christianity, Christian Day school, day and boarding school located in Newtown, Victoria, Newtown, an inner-western suburb of Geelong, Victoria (Australia), ...

. When

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

began, Coles enlisted as a private, fighting at

Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...

and on the Western Front in France, and was wounded on three occasions before being commissioned as a lieutenant.

Coles Variety Stores

Coles returned to Australia in 1919 and married Lillian Knight. He joined with two brothers and an uncle to open a variety store in Collingwood, a working-class suburb of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. Working on the slogan "Nothing over 2/6", the business grew rapidly. The family opened a series of new Coles Variety Stores around the country, Arthur moving to Sydney in 1928 to open and manage the first one in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. In 1931, at the height of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, he returned to Melbourne to become managing director, a post he held until 1944. G. J. Coles & Co became the largest retailer in Australia.

Lord Mayor and federal politics

Coles became

in 1938, remaining in that position until 1940. Thereupon he resigned to stand for the federal seat of Henty as an independent candidate. Coles was one of the two independent parliamentarians (the other was Alexander Wilson) who held the balance of power through the early years of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He supported the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four Elections in Australia, federal elections in that time, usually governing Coalition (Australia), in coalition ...

(UAP) government of

Robert Menzies The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

and in 1941 began attending UAP partyroom meetings. He officially joined the UAP on 26 June 1941. After Menzies was deposed, both Coles and Wilson crossed the floor in 1941 to remove the hapless

- Country Party government of

Arthur Fadden Sir Arthur William Fadden (13 April 189421 April 1973) was an Australian politician and accountant who served as the 13th prime minister of Australia from 29 August to 7 October 1941. He held office as the leader of the Country Party from 1940 ...

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

Lord Gowrie was reluctant to call an election for a Parliament barely a year old, especially given the international situation. He summoned Coles and Wilson and made them promise that if he named Labor leader

John Curtin John Curtin (8 January 1885 – 5 July 1945) was an Australian politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Australia from 1941 until his death in 1945. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), having been most ...

prime minister, they would support him for the remainder of the Parliament to end the instability in government. The independents agreed, assuring Curtin's accession. In 1944, Coles retired from business and devoted himself to public works, becoming the chair of both the Commonwealth Rationing Commission and the War Damage Commission. With the end of the war, he resigned from the legislature to become chair of

British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines or BCPA, was an airline registered in New South Wales, Australia in June 1946 with headquarters in Sydney. It was formed by the governments of Australia (50%), New Zealand (30%) and the United Kingdom (20% ...

(BCPA) and the Australian National Airlines Commission (see

). He was appointed chair of the Melbourne Olympic Games Committee in 1952, and a member of the

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

Advisory Council in 1956. Knighted in 1960, Coles lived mostly in retirement from 1965. He died in 1982, leaving three sons and three daughters.

References

National Library of Australia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coles, Arthur William 1892 births 1982 deaths Australian businesspeople in retailing People from Geelong Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Henty Independent members of the Parliament of Australia Australian Knights Bachelor People educated at Geelong College 20th-century Australian philanthropists Australian MPs 1940–1943 Australian MPs 1943–1946 20th-century mayors of places in Australia Businesspeople awarded knighthoods