Robert James Brown (2 December 1933 – 30 March 2022) was an

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 ...

politician.

Early life

Brown was born in Pelaw Main and educated at Pelaw Main Primary School,

Kurri Kurri Kurri Kurri is a small town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Cessnock LGA. At the , its population was 6,174. Kurri Kurri is the largest town in a group of towns and hamlets, including Stanford Merthyr, Pelaw Main, We ...

Junior Technical High School, Maitland Boys High School, the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

( B.Ec), Sydney Teachers' College ( Dip.Ed), Broken Hill Technical College and the University of New England. He married Elizabeth Joy Hirschausen in 1960 and had one daughter ( Kelly Hoare) and one son.

Political career

Brown first contested the then safe Liberal seat of Paterson at the 1961 federal election. He gathered a 6.5% swing to Labor but failed to beat the sitting member and Menzies Government Minister, Allen Fairhall. Brown later contested and won the seat of Cessnock in 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 ...

and held it from 1978 to 1980. He switched to federal politics, this time successfully contesting the nearby electorate of

Hunter Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, ...

, holding it from 1980 until 1984. After a redistribution moved a large slice of Hunter to the new seat of Charlton, Brown transferred there and represented it from 1984 to 1998. He served as Minister for Land Transport from 1988 to 1993. He retired in 1998, and was succeeded in Charlton by his daughter, Kelly Hoare.

Honours

On 11 June 2007, Brown was named a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

for "service to the Australian Parliament, particularly in the area of transport policy, to the community of the Hunter Region through local government, heritage and sporting organisations, and to economics education."

Death

Brown died on 30 March 2022, aged 88. His funeral was held on 6 April 2022, a week after his death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Bob 1933 births 2022 deaths Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Hunter Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Charlton Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the Order of Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Transport ministers of Australia People from the Hunter Region Australian MPs 1980–1983 Australian MPs 1983–1984 Australian MPs 1984–1987 Australian MPs 1987–1990 Australian MPs 1990–1993 Australian MPs 1993–1996 Australian MPs 1996–1998