William John Patrick McCarthy (22 May 1923 – 25 April 1987) was an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

, representing

Armidale Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 23,967 as of the 2021 census. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands reg ...

from 1978 to 1981, and

Northern Tablelands The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England regio ...

from 1981 to 1987. McCarthy married Thelma on 8 March 1945, with whom had have three children. He served as a flying officer in the

RAAF The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal 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-general of Aus ...

before becoming a grazier in 1959. From 1970 to 1978 he was a field officer with the Community Development and Extension Division. In 1978, McCarthy was the Labor candidate for the Country Party-held state seat of

; he narrowly defeated sitting MP

David Leitch David Leitch (; born November 16, 1975) is an American filmmaker, stunt performer, stunt coordinator, and actor. He made his directorial debut on the action film ''John Wick'' (2014) with Chad Stahelski, though only Stahelski was credited. He la ...

amid that year's massive Labor landslide to become only the second Labor member to win it. In 1981 the seat was abolished, and McCarthy contested the new seat of

, which was essentially a merger of the old seats of Armidale and

Tenterfield Tenterfield is a regional town in New South Wales, Australia, situated at the junction of the New England and Bruxner highways, along the Northern Tablelands, within the New England, New South Wales, New England region. At the , Tenterfield ha ...

. Although the new seat had a notional National Country Party majority, McCarthy was elected. McCarthy resigned due to ill health on 22 April 1987 and died 3 days later. His widow Thelma was the Labor candidate in the resulting by-election but was defeated by National Party candidate Ray Chappell.

References

1923 births 1987 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians People from Armidale Royal Australian Air Force officers 20th-century Australian military personnel {{Australia-Labor-NewSouthWales-MP-stub