Brian James Dixon (born 20 May 1936) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er and Victorian

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. Dixon played 252 VFL games for

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

between 1954 and 1968, playing mostly on the wing. He played in five premierships, winning Melbourne's best and fairest in 1960, while in 1961 he was selected in the

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

and he also won the Tassie Medal for his performances at the 1961 Brisbane Carnival. In 2000 he was named in Melbourne's Team of the Century. Despite still playing football for Melbourne, he entered parliament in 1964, as the member for the now abolished seat of St Kilda, representing 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 ...

. Being from the moderate wing of the party he clashed with then

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Henry Bolte, especially over the

hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

of Ronald Ryan which Dixon strongly opposed. After Rupert Hamer took over as Liberal Party leader and Premier, Dixon was promoted to the ministry. He variously served in several portfolios including Youth, Sport and Recreation, Housing and Aboriginal affairs. His best-remembered achievement was introducing the iconic Life. Be in it. program. In

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, Dixon won St Kilda by an extremely narrow margin, which crucially gave the Hamer Liberal government a majority of one seat in the Legislative Assembly, and meant that the Liberal Party did not need to form a

Coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

, with the National Party, with which relations were traditionally poor in Victoria. However, in 1982 Dixon was defeated when the Liberal Party lost government after 27 years in office. After his defeat, Dixon worked predominantly in sports administration and he ran public speaking seminars. He travelled the world representing the Trim and Fitness International Sport for All Association (TAFISA) and the Asiania Sport For All Association (ASFAA). He was also president of AFL South Africa, taking a keen interest in other countries playing Australian rules football.

Statistics

Playing statistics

: , - ,

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

, , , , 9 , 8 , , 2 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0.3 , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , 1955 , , , , 9 , 16 , , 7 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0.4 , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , bgcolor=F0E68C ,

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

^# , , , , 9 , 17 , , 5 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0.3 , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , bgcolor=F0E68C ,

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

^# , , , , 9 , 21 , , 2 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0.1 , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , 1958 , , , , 9,16 , 20 , , 2 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0.1 , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , bgcolor=F0E68C ,

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

^# , , , , 9 , 20 , , 2 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0.1 , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , bgcolor=F0E68C , 1960^# , , , , 9 , 20 , , 4 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0.2 , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , 1961 , , , , 9 , 16 , , 2 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0.1 , , , , , , , , , , , , , - ,

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

, , , , 9 , 18 , , 2 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0.1 , , , , , , , , , , , , , - ,

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

, , , , 9 , 18 , , 3 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0.2 , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , bgcolor=F0E68C , 1964^# , , , , 9 , 17 , , 1 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0.1 , , , , , , , , , , , , , - ,

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

, , , , 9 , 13 , , 1 , , 2 , , 260 , , 23 , , 283 , , 78 , , , , 0.1 , , 0.2 , , 20.0 , , 1.8 , , 21.8 , , 6.0 , , , - ,

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

, , , , 9 , 11 , , 0 , , 3 , , 222 , , 20 , , 242 , , 48 , , , , 0.0 , , 0.3 , , 20.2 , , 1.8 , , 22.0 , , 4.4 , , , - ,

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

, , , , 9 , 18 , , 6 , , 6 , , 357 , , 56 , , 413 , , 77 , , , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 19.8 , , 3.1 , , 22.9 , , 4.3 , , , - ,

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

, , , , 9 , 19 , , 2 , , 1 , , 395 , , 51 , , 446 , , 123 , , , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 20.8 , , 2.7 , , 23.5 , , 6.5 , , , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 252 !! 41 !! 12 !! 1234 !! 150 !! 1384 !! 326 !! !! 0.2 !! 0.2 !! 20.2 !! 2.5 !! 22.7 !! 5.3 !!

Coaching statistics

, - ,

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, , , , 22 , , 5 , , 16 , , 1 , , 25.0% , , 9 , , 12 , - ,

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

, , , 22 , , 1 , , 21 , , 0 , , 4.5% , , 12 , , 12 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=2, Career totals ! 44 !! 6 !! 37 !! 1 !! 14.8% !! colspan=2,

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Brian 1936 births All-Australians (1953–1988) North Melbourne Football Club coaches Living people Melbourne Football Club players Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy winners Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees People educated at Melbourne High School Australian sportsperson-politicians VFL/AFL premiership players Melbourne Football Club premiership players Politicians from Melbourne 20th-century Australian politicians Ministers for sport (Victoria) Ministers for employment (Victoria) Ministers for youth (Victoria)