Robert Bruce Whan (5 January 1933 – 4 October 2015) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the

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 ...

(ALP) and represented the

Division of Eden-Monaro The Division of Eden-Monaro () is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the states and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales. It includes the cities of Queanbeyan, Goulburn, Cooma ...

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 1972 to 1975. He worked in the wool industry before entering politics.

Early life

Whan was born in

Wodonga Wodonga (pronounced ; ) is a city on the Victorian side of the border with New South Wales, north-east of Melbourne, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury-Wodonga and is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Wodonga L ...

, Victoria. His parents moved to Melbourne where he attended East Kew Central School and Richmond Technical College. He left school at the age of 15 and went with his family to King Island, where he worked in the dairy industry. Whan later moved to

Albury Albury (; ) is a major regional city that is located in the Murray River, Murray region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury–Wodonga, Albury-Wodonga and is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of ...

, New South Wales, where he worked in a woolstore and gained a

wool classing Wool classing is the production of uniform, predictable, low-risk lines of wool, carried out by examining the characteristics of the wool in its raw state and classing (grading) it accordingly. Wool classing is done by a wool classer. Basis for ...

certificate. He later attained a degree in wool technology from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

and completed postgraduate studies at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

in England. He worked as a public servant before entering politics, serving as the officer-in-charge of the wool marketing section of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics.

Politics

Whan was elected to federal parliament at the 1972 federal election, as the Labor candidate in the

. He won the seat by a margin of 503 votes, and retained it at the 1974 election by a margin of 146 votes, making it one of the most marginal seats in the country. He lost his seat in Labor's landslide defeat at the 1975 election, although the relatively small swing against him was seen as evidence of his personal following. Whan won Labor

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 ...

as the Labor candidate in the

Division of Canberra The Division of Canberra is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the Australian Capital Territory. It is named for the city of Canberra, Australia's national capital, and includes all of cent ...

at the 1977 election, but following a series of challenges the initial ballot was overturned and he was replaced by Henry Lawrence, who lost to the incumbent Liberal MP John Haslem. He later served as chief of staff to

Richard Amery Richard Sanderson Amery (born 31 March 1951) is an Australian former politician. He was a Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1983 to 2015, representing the electorates of Riverstone (1983–1991) and Mount Dru ...

Later life

After his defeat Whan served as head of the New South Wales Milk Board and executive director of the Australian Council for Overseas Aid. He was also a founder of Jobless Action, a Canberra-based organisation.

Personal life

Whan died of cardiac arrest on 4 October 2015 at the age of 82. His son,

Steve Whan Steven James Robert Whan (born 11 February 1964) is an Australian politician who has served as Minister for Skills, TAFE and Tertiary Education since 2023. He has represented the electoral district of Monaro in the New South Wales Legislative ...

has been the member for Monaro 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 ...

since 2023, having previously been the member from 2003 to 2011 and a served in the Legislative Council from 2011 to 2015. Prior to entering the New South Wales Parliament, Steve was the unsuccessful candidate for his father's old federal seat of Eden-Monaro in the 1998 and 2001 elections but was unsuccessful on both those occasions.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whan, Bob 1933 births 2015 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Eden-Monaro Members of the Order of Australia University of New South Wales alumni Alumni of the University of Leeds People from Wodonga Australian agriculturalists Australian MPs 1972–1974 Australian MPs 1974–1975