Charles Robert "Bert" Kelly (22 June 1912 – 17 January 1997) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

and was an influential campaigner for

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...

and the elimination of

tariff A tariff or import tax is a duty (tax), duty imposed by a national Government, government, customs territory, or supranational union on imports of goods and is paid by the importer. Exceptionally, an export tax may be levied on exports of goods ...

s. He held ministerial office under

Harold Holt Harold Edward Holt (5 August 190817 December 1967) was an Australian politician and lawyer who served as the 17th prime minister of Australia from 1966 until Disappearance of Harold Holt, his disappearance and presumed death in 1967. He held o ...

and

John Gorton Sir John Grey Gorton (9 September 1911 – 19 May 2002) was an Australian politician, farmer and airman who served as the 19th Prime Minister of Australia, prime minister of Australia from 1968 to 1971. He held office as the leader of the leade ...

as Minister for Navy (1967–1968) and Minister for Works (1968–1969). He represented the South Australian seat of

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from 1958 to 1977.

Early life

Kelly was born on 22 June 1912 in

Riverton, South Australia Riverton is a small town in the Mid North of South Australia, in the Gilbert Valley. It is situated on the Gilbert River, from which the town derives its name. Both the Gilbert Valley and Gilbert River were named after the South Australian pio ...

. He was the son of Ada May (née Dawson) and William Stanley Kelly. His grandfather Robert Kelly had been a member of parliament in the 1890s. Kelly was raised on his father's farming property "Merrindie" near Tarlee. He attended the local public school and then boarded at

Prince Alfred College Prince Alfred College is a private, independent, day school, day and boarding school for boys, located on Dequetteville Terrace, Kent Town, South Australia, Kent Town, near the Adelaide city centre, centre of Adelaide, South Australia. One of th ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

from 1925 to 1929. After leaving school he returned to the family farm. As W. S. Kelly and Sons, he and his father bred prize-winning

Dorset Horn The Dorset Horn is an endangered British breed of domestic sheep. It is documented from the seventeenth century, and is highly prolific, sometimes producing two lambing seasons per year. Among British sheep, it is the only breed capable of bre ...

sheep, including championship honours at the

Melbourne Royal Show The Melbourne Royal Show (known until 2022 as the Royal Melbourne Show) is an agricultural show held at Melbourne Showgrounds every September. It is organised by Melbourne Royal (formally the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria) and has been ...

. In 1942, Kelly listed in the

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

(RAAF) and undertook

air crew ''Air Crew'' () is a 1980 disaster film directed by Alexander Mitta. Inspired by the ''Airport'' movie series, it was the first disaster film shot in the Soviet Union. Plot The first part of the film concentrates on the personal lives of the air ...

training. He subsequently transferred to the

Air Force Reserve The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It is the federal Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force, consisting of commis ...

in order to remain in South Australia. In 1951, Kelly was awarded a Nuffield Fellowship to study farming in the United Kingdom. He was also appointed to the South Australian Advisory Board on Agriculture, of which his father had also been a member. He was introduced to economic policy by his father, who served on the federal government's Tariff Board in the 1930s and was an advisor to

Douglas Copland Sir Douglas Berry Copland (24 February 189427 September 1971) was an Australian academic and economist. Biography Douglas Copland was born in Otaio, New Zealand in 1894, the thirteenth of sixteen children. He was raised there and lived there ...

on agricultural product pricing during World War II.

Political career

Along with his family political connections, an early political influence on Kelly was South Australian MP

Charles Hawker Charles Allan Seymour Hawker (16 May 1894 – 25 October 1938) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for Wakefield from 1929 until his accidental death in 1938, representing the Nationalist Pa ...

, whom Kelly later described as a "hero". Kelly was elected as the

member for the

seat of

at the 1958 election. He was a passionate supporter of

, when this was very much a minority opinion in Australia. Kelly was Minister for Works from February 1967 to February 1968 in the Holt and Gorton ministries and then Minister for the Navy until November 1969. As navy minister he dealt with the aftermath of the ''Melbourne''–''Evans'' collision in June 1969. His period as minister may have been limited by his free trade views. After Kelly's departure from the ministry, he wrote a column in ''

the Australian Financial Review The ''Australian Financial Review'' (''AFR'') is an Australian compact daily newspaper with a focus on business, politics and economic affairs. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and has been published continuously since its foun ...

'', ''Modest Member'', supporting free trade. When the seat of Angas was abolished in 1977, its member

Geoffrey Giles Geoffrey O'Halloran Giles (27 June 1923 – 18 December 1990) was an Australian politician. Giles was born in Adelaide, South Australia, a son of Thomas Giles (pastoralist)#Family, Hew O'Halloran Giles, and Nellie Cosford Giles (née Verco), e ...

beat Kelly for

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...

for Wakefield.

Later life

Kelly renamed his column "Modest Farmer" and it was published successively in ''the Australian Financial Review'', '' The Bulletin'' and ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

''. He was invested as a Companion of the Most Distinguished

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

(CMG) in 1980. Kelly's funeral was attended by former

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Prime Minister

Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from December 1972 to November 1975. To date the longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he was notable for being ...

and

Ray Evans Raymond Bernard Evans (February 4, 1915 – February 15, 2007) was an American songwriter best known for being a half of a composing-songwriting duo with Jay Livingston, specializing himself in writing lyrics for film songs. On music Livingston ...

, the former head of Western Mining Corporation and president of the right-wing H. R. Nicholls Society.

Personal life

In 1936, Kelly married Lorna Hill, with whom he had three sons. Kelly's grandson

Craig Kelly Craig Kelly (born 29 September 1963) is an Australian conservative politician who represented the division of Hughes as a Liberal Party (and later United Australia Party) MP from 2010 until his defeat at the 2022 federal election. Kelly in ...

and great grandson Jake Kelly both played Australian rules football in the professional

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Charles Robert 1912 births 1997 deaths Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Wakefield Members of the Australian House of Representatives People educated at Prince Alfred College Australian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George South Australian politicians Australian MPs 1958–1961 Australian MPs 1961–1963 Australian MPs 1963–1966 Australian MPs 1966–1969 Australian MPs 1969–1972 Australian MPs 1972–1974 Australian MPs 1974–1975 Australian MPs 1975–1977