Herbert Brayley Collett (12 November 1877 – 15 August 1947) was an Australian politician, librarian and soldier. He was a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

for

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

from 1933 to 1947, representing the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four Elections in Australia, federal elections in that time, usually governing Coalition (Australia), in coalition ...

(UAP) until 1945 and then the

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. He held ministerial office in the Menzies and Fadden governments from 1939 to 1941.

Early life

Collett was born in St. Peter Port,

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and arrived with his family in Western Australia in October 1884. He was educated at

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

Grammar School and became a librarian at the Victoria Public Library in 1891. He married Anne Whitfield in April 1904.

Military service

Collett joined the Metropolitan Rifle Volunteers at the age of 16 and rose to command the 11th Australian Infantry Regiment as a lieutenant colonel in 1908. With the outbreak of the First World War he commanded the 28th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force from 23 April 1915 and he served at

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, in Egypt and Sinai and in

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. On 29 July 1916, he was wounded at the Battle of Pozières. He returned to action on 12 October 1917 at the First Battle of Passchendaele. He was promoted to colonel in June 1918 and discharged in September 1919. He was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

and was made a Companion of the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

in 1917, a

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George I ...

in 1919 and was promoted brevet colonel. Collett was assistant general secretary of Perth's amalgamated library, museum and art gallery from 1915 to 1933 and president of the Western Australia branch of the Returned Sailors and Soldiers' Imperial League from 1925 to 1933.

Political career

In April 1933, Collett was appointed to fill a

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in the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...

, representing the

. In parliament he was particularly concerned with military matters and benefits for ex-servicemen and was Minister in charge of War Service Homes from April 1939 to June 1941, when he became Minister for Repatriation until the fall of the Fadden government in October 1941. He was also Vice-President of the Executive Council and Minister in charge of Scientific and Industrial Research from August to October 1940. He was defeated at the 1946 election, completing his Senate term in July 1947. Shortly after he died of heart disease, survived by his wife and two sons.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Collett, Herbert Brayley 1877 births 1947 deaths Australian Army officers Australian military personnel of World War I Australian Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Australian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate for Western Australia Members of the Cabinet of Australia Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia United Australia Party members of the Parliament of Australia People from the Bailiwick of Guernsey Guernsey emigrants to Australia Burials at Karrakatta Cemetery