Maynard Boyd Dawkins MBE (2 January 1917 – 21 October 1996) was a sheep breeder, choirmaster and politician in the State of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

History

Dawkins was born in Stirling West the only son of Albert Maynard Dawkins of Gawler River and his wife Mary (née Yeoman). The Dawkins family were early settlers of Gawler, and well known in the area. He studied at Roseworthy Agricultural College, where his father was a board member, He was, like fellow parliamentarian Leslie Rupert Hart, a breeder of

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. He was president of the Gawler Men's Branch of the

Liberal and Country League The South Australian Liberal Party, officially known as the Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division), and often shortened to SA Liberals, is the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia. It was formed as the Lib ...

, and was a successful Liberal candidate for a Midland seat on the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

in March 1962, successfully made the transition to the new Legislative Council in July 1975 when, by the Act of 1973, the State reverted to voting as one electorate, with proportional representation. He retired in November 1982.

Other interests

Dawkins was a teetotaller; an active member of the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

Church and the

Band of Hope Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

; following a long family tradition. He was a fine

bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three ...

, a member of the Adelaide Philharmonic Choir, who studied under Clifford Lathlean, and conductor of the notable Gawler Choral Society.

Personal

He married Constance Lilian Wilkinson on 24 August 1943. A son,

John Dawkins John Sydney "Joe" Dawkins (born 2 March 1947) is an Australian former politician who was Treasurer in the Keating Labor government from December 1991 to December 1993. He is notable for his reforms of tertiary education as Minister for Empl ...

, born 3 July 1954, followed his father as a member of the Legislative Council from 1997 until 2022. On 8 September 2020, John was elected President of the Legislative Council serving until 19 March 2022. A nephew also called

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

was a politician from the Australian Labor Party and was Federal Treasurer in 1991 to 1993.

References

Members of the South Australian Legislative Council Australian sheep breeders 1917 births 1996 deaths Liberal and Country League politicians 20th-century Australian politicians Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire {{Australia-politician-stub