Garry Owen Barr Nehl, AM (19 February 1934 – 3 October 2023) was an Australian politician. 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 ...

from 1984 to 2001, representing the seat of Cowper for the

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

. He served as

deputy speaker Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain ...

from 1996 to 2001. He worked in journalism and public relations before his election to federal parliament and was a leading campaigner for New England statehood at the height of the movement in the 1960s.

Early life

Nehl was born on 19 February 1934 in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large Metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of City of Newcastle, Newcastle and Ci ...

. He was the son of Ivy and William Nehl. His father, a moulder by profession, was an Australian Army officer during World War II and served in the Battle of Tobruk. Nehl attended

Sydney Boys' High School Sydney Boys High School ('SBHS'), otherwise known as Sydney High School ('SHS') or simply High, is an Australian government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school for boys, located at Moore Park, New South Wales, a sub ...

from 1946 to 1951. He subsequently worked an office job in Sydney and also served with the

Citizen Military Forces The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the military reserve force, reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citize ...

from 1952 to 1954. He moved to

South West Queensland South West Queensland is a remote region in the Australian state of Queensland which covers . The region lies to the south of Central West Queensland and west of the Darling Downs and includes the Maranoa, Queensland, Maranoa district and parts o ...

in 1956 following his marriage, working as a

station hand In Australia and New Zealand, a station is a large landholding used for producing livestock, predominantly cattle or sheep, that needs an extensive range of grazing land. The owner of a station is called a pastoralist or a grazier, corres ...

, overseer and manager at his wife's parents' grazing property. He did not complete a university degree, although he studied economics part-time at 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 ...

, commerce by correspondence at the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

, and arts at the

University of New England University of New England may refer to: * University of New England (Australia), in New South Wales, with about 26,000 students * University of New England (United States), in Biddeford, Maine, with about 6,000 students See also * New England Coll ...

. From 1965 to 1968, Nehl worked as an administrator in the University of New England's

university extension Continuing education is the education undertaken after initial education for either personal or professional reasons. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada. Recognized forms of post-secondary learning activities within the d ...

department. In 1968 he briefly ran a newspaper, ''Scope'', in

Armidale, New South Wales Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 23,967 as of the 2021 census. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands, New ...

. He moved to

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour, locally nicknamed Coffs, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 a ...

later that year where he worked as a freelance journalist and life insurance salesman. He subsequently managed a migrant hostel in

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 ...

from 1969 to 1971 then worked in Sydney as a public relations consultant and personnel manager with Morganite Australia. He returned to Coffs Harbour in 1976 and established a public relations firm. He also published several photographic books and was editor of ''Banana Bulletin'', the journal of the New South Wales Banana Growers' Federation, from 1980 to 1984.

Politics

Nehl joined the Country Party in 1957. He served on the Armidale City Council from 1961 to 1964.

New England statehood movement

Nehl was executive officer and secretary of the

New England New State Movement The New England New State Movement was an Australian political movement in the twentieth century. Founded as the Northern Separation Movement, the aim of the movement was to seek the secession of the New England region and surrounding areas fro ...

from 1961 to 1964, which sought to separate the

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

region of New South Wales as a new Australian state. He ran the movement's Newcastle branch and chaired the Citizens' Referendum Council during the ultimately unsuccessful 1967 New England statehood referendum. He stood for the New State Party at the

1968 New South Wales state election The 1968 New South Wales state election was held on 24 February 1968. It was conducted in single member constituencies with compulsory preferential voting and was held on boundaries created at a 1966 redistribution. The election was for al ...

, polling 36 percent of the vote in the seat of Clarence but losing to the incumbent Country Party MP

Bill Weiley William Robert Weiley (6 April 1901 – 11 September 1989) was an Australian politician and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1955 until 1971. He was a member of the Country Party. Weiley was born in Grafton, New Sou ...

House of Representatives

In 1984, Nehl won National Party

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 ...

to contest the seat of Cowper following after incumbent Nationals MP Ian Robinson transferred to the new seat of

Page Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to: Roles * Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation * Page (servant), traditionally a young m ...

. He retained Cowper for the National Party at the 1984 federal election. Nehl held the seat until his retirement in 2001. During his time in the House of Representatives he served as the

Deputy Speaker Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain ...

in the 1996 and 1998 Parliaments, the first five years of the

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...

premiership, under three Speakers:

Bob Halverson Robert George Halverson, (22 October 1937 – 9 February 2016) was an Australian politician, air force officer and diplomat. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 1984 to 1998, representing the Liberal Party. He was Speaker of th ...

Ian Sinclair Ian McCahon Sinclair (born 10 June 1929) is an Australian former politician who served as a Member of Parliament for 35 years, and was leader of the National Party from 1984 to 1989. He served as either a minister or opposition frontbencher ...

, and

Neil Andrew John Neil Andrew (born 7 June 1944) is a former Australian politician. He served in the House of Representatives for over 20 years from 1983 to 2004 representing the Division of Wakefield in South Australia for the Liberal Party. He became th ...

Personal life

In 1956, Nehl married Suzanne Saul, with whom he had two sons. Outside of politics he served on the board of the Royal Freemasons Benevolent Institution and as president of the Coffs Harbour Regional Conservatorium. Nehl died on 3 October 2023, at the age of 89.

References

1934 births 2023 deaths National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Cowper Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Order of Australia 21st-century Australian politicians People from Newcastle, New South Wales People educated at Sydney Boys High School Australian MPs 1984–1987 Australian MPs 1987–1990 Australian MPs 1990–1993 Australian MPs 1993–1996 Australian MPs 1996–1998 Australian MPs 1998–2001 {{Australia-National-politician-stub