John Douglas Cull (23 January 1951 – 10 January 2022), a former Australian politician, was a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

representing the rural seat of Tamworth from the 2001 by-election until

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

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 ...

Early years and background

Cull attended

Newington College Newington College is a multi-campus Independent school, independent Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting Church Single-sex education, single-sex and Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school education, early learning, Primary school, primar ...

(1962–1969), commencing as a preparatory school student in Wyvern House. He owned and ran a large grain property at Curlewis for much of his career. In the early 1980s, he also opened a franchise business called ''New England Retailing'', operating four franchises of national chains in

Armidale 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 reg ...

and Tamworth. After leaving the cattle business in the early 1990s, he owned and ran the

Angus and Robertson Angus & Robertson (A&R) is a major Australian bookseller, publisher and printer. As book publishers, A&R has contributed substantially to the promotion and development of Australian literature.Alison, Jennifer (2001). "Publishers and editors: A ...

book store in Tamworth. Cull married Susan Jane Hughes at

Gunnedah Gunnedah () is a town in north-central New South Wales, Australia and is the seat of the Gunnedah Shire Local government in Australia, local government area. In the the town recorded a population of 8,338. Gunnedah is situated within the Liver ...

on 1 June 1974. They had one son and one daughter. He died on 10 January 2022.

Political career

A long-time member of the National Party, Cull was preselected at the party's candidate for the 2001 by-election, sparked by the successful move from state to federal politics by conservative

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Tony Windsor Antony Harold Curties Windsor, (born 2 September 1950) is a former Australian politician. Windsor was an Independent (politician), independent member for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of electoral district of Tamworth, Tamworth ...

. Cull faced two strong independent challenges from the sometimes controversial James Treloar, the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Tamworth who was Windsor's endorsed successor, and Tamworth councillor Warren Woodley. Cull ultimately won the seat by a sizable margin. He faced a new independent challenge in the general election in 2003 in the form of former

Hazelton Airlines Hazelton Air Services Pty Limited, trading as Hazelton Airlines, was an Australian regional airline which operated until 2001. It was established as an independent airline but by the end of its existence had become a subsidiary of Ansett Austra ...

executive Peter Draper, who had the strong endorsement of Windsor and popular state independent Richard Torbay. Draper won by more than 1,400 votes, thus ending Cull's short parliamentary career.

References

1951 births 2022 deaths National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly People educated at Newington College 21st-century Australian politicians {{Australia-National-politician-stub