Francis Eugene Stewart (20 February 192316 April 1979) 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 served as Minister for Tourism and Recreation in the

Whitlam government The Whitlam government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party. The government commenced when Labor defeated the McMahon government at the 1972 Australian federal elect ...

from 1973 to 1975. He was a member of 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 ...

representing

Lang Lang may refer to: *Lang (surname), a surname of independent Germanic or Chinese origin Places * Lang Island (Antarctica), East Antarctica * Lang Nunatak, Antarctica * Lang Sound, Antarctica * Lang Park, a stadium in Brisbane, Australia * Lang, ...

from 1953 to 1977 and subsequently Grayndler from 1977 until his death in 1979.

Early life and army career

Stewart was born in the Sydney suburb of Belmore and educated at St Joseph's School, Belmore and

St Mary's Cathedral College, Sydney St Mary's Cathedral College (SMCC) is a systemic coeducational Catholic day school for students, located in the central business district of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1824, it is among the oldest schools in the country, cur ...

. Before World War II, he was a public servant in the New South Wales Department of Transport. In the war, he served in the

Second Australian Imperial Force The Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF, or Second AIF) was the volunteer expeditionary force of the Australian Army in the Second World War. It was formed following the declaration of war on Nazi Germany, with an initial strength of one ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

with the 39th Transport Platoon in 1944 and 1945 and was eventually promoted to

sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

. Prior to his election to parliament, he played first grade

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

for

Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...

between 1948 and 1950. He married Maureen Neagle Smith in August 1952.

Political career

Having been a member of the ALP since 1942, Stewart was elected as the federal member for Lang in 1953. Belonging to the right-wing Catholic faction of the party, he was widely considered a ''

grouper Groupers are a diverse group of marine ray-finned fish in the family Epinephelidae, in the order Perciformes. Groupers were long considered a subfamily of the seabasses in Serranidae, but are now treated as distinct. Not all members of this f ...

'', although unlike many other "groupers" he never left the Labor Party. When

Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from December 1972 to November 1975. To date the longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he was notable for being ...

became prime minister in 1972, Stewart was appointed Minister for Tourism and Recreation. He strongly opposed both the legalising of abortion and the no-fault divorce reform which became law in 1975. As

Vice-President of the Executive Council The Vice-President of the Executive Council is the minister in the Government of Australia who acts as the presiding officer of meetings of the Federal Executive Council when the Governor-General is absent. The Vice-President of the Executiv ...

, in 1975, Stewart presided over the meeting that revoked

Rex Connor Reginald Francis Xavier Connor (26 January 190722 August 1977) was an Australian politician who served as a member of the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives from 1963 until he died in 1977, representing the Australia ...

's authority to raise overseas funds. ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' later published allegations that he was so concerned about Connor dealings with Tirath Khemlani as to have leaked information to the opposition on the Loans Affair. After the fall of the Whitlam government, Stewart moved to the

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of t ...

. When Lang was abolished prior to the 1977 election, he transferred to Grayndler. He died in Long Jetty, New South Wales, of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

while playing

squash Squash most often refers to: * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (plant), the fruit of vines of the genus ''Cucurbita'' Squash may also refer to: Sports * Squash (professional wrestling), an extr ...

and was survived by his wife, five daughters and one son. Kevin Stewart (1928–2006), Health Minister in the New South Wales government led by

Neville Wran Neville Kenneth Wran, (11 October 1926 – 20 April 2014) was an Australian politician who was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1986. He was the national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and chairman o ...

, was Frank's younger brother.

Australian Institute of Sport

As Minister for Tourism and Recreation, in 1974 Stewart appointed a study group to report on the feasibility of establishing an Australian sports institute. Released in 1975, the report recommended the establishment of a sports institute, now known as the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

(AIS). One of the buildings at the AIS is named after Frank Stewart in recognition of the central role he played in the institute's establishment.

Rugby league

Patrick Francis Stewart, the father of both Kevin and Frank Stewart, was the founding president of the Canterbury Bankstown Leagues Club. The Stewart family have been long-term supporters of the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs and Frank played first-grade rugby league for the Bulldogs from 1948 to 1950. In recognition of this support, the grandstand at Belmore Sports Ground (the former home ground of the club) is named the "Stewart Stand" after Patrick, Frank, and Kevin Stewart. Following an incident where Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs football club was stripped of all points in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

competition for breach of the salary cap, Kevin Stewart was appointed chairman of the board in 2002 in an attempt to restore the club's reputation.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Frank Australian rugby league players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players 1923 births 1979 deaths Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Grayndler Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Lang Members of the Australian House of Representatives Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Australian public servants Australian sportsperson-politicians 1975 Australian constitutional crisis Rugby league players from Sydney Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army soldiers Australian MPs 1951–1954 Australian MPs 1954–1955 Australian MPs 1955–1958 Australian MPs 1958–1961 Australian MPs 1961–1963 Australian MPs 1963–1966 Australian MPs 1966–1969 Australian MPs 1969–1972 Australian MPs 1972–1974 Australian MPs 1974–1975 Australian MPs 1975–1977 Australian MPs 1977–1980 20th-century Australian sportsmen