John Scrimgeour Lechte (17 January 1921 – 1 July 2002) was an Australian politician. He was born in Hawthorn to market gardener John Lavidge Lechte and Caroline Reid Scrimgeour. He attended state schools and followed his father to become a market gardener. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he served with the

1st Australian Armoured Division The 1st Armoured Division was an Armoured warfare, armoured formation of the Australian Army, raised in 1941 as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF) during World War II. While the Division was originally to be deployed to North Afri ...

and with the 9th Division in

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

before his attachment to US intelligence in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

. On 20 May 1944 he married Muriel Kathryn Love, with whom he had three sons. In 1947 he was elected to the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the states and territories of Australia, state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the state upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament H ...

as the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

member for Oakleigh, but he was expelled from the party in February 1950 after criticising

Thomas Hollway Thomas Tuke Hollway (2 October 1906 – 30 July 1971) was the 36th Premier of Victoria, and the first to be born in the 20th century. He held office from 1947 to 1950, and again for a short period in 1952. He was originally a member and the lea ...

's government. Defeated as an

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 ...

in 1950, he joined 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 ...

in 1956, but was expelled in 1970. During the 1970s he was the editor of the ''Southern Peninsula Gazette''. Lechte died in Castlemaine in 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lechte, John 1921 births 2002 deaths Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Independent members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly 20th-century Australian politicians Australian military personnel of World War II Australian expatriates in the Philippines People from Hawthorn, Victoria Military personnel from Melbourne Politicians from Melbourne