Keith McCallum Dowding (21 July 1911 – 26 August 2008) was an Australian

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

minister and left-wing activist who was the father of Western Australian Premier

Peter Dowding Peter McCallum Dowding SC (born 6 October 1943) is an Australian lawyer and former politician who was the premier of Western Australia from 25 February 1988 until his resignation on 12 February 1990 due to a leadership spill. He was a member o ...

. Dowding was born 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 ...

to John McCallum Dowding and Margaret Katherine Welch. Keith was the older brother of

MI9 MI9, the British Directorate of Military Intelligence Section 9, was a secret department of the War Office between 1939 and 1945. During World War II it had two principal tasks: assisting in the escape of Allied prisoners of war (POWs) held b ...

agent

Bruce Dowding Kenneth Bruce Dowding (4 May 1914 – 30 June 1943) was an Australian who worked for the British Directorate of Military Intelligence as a MI9 agent and was involved in the French Resistance during World War II under the alias of "André Mason". H ...

. He attended

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state of Victoria. Its ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

, and in 1939 was ordained a

minister. Also in that year he married Marjorie Darcy and was sent home from his army chaplaincy in

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 ...

after questioning the differences in treatment between officers and troops and his Christian burial of a Japanese pilot. He re-enrolled as a private and worked in the Japanese language division of the army. Following a period as minister in

Murrumbeena Murrumbeena ( ) is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 13 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Murrumbeena recorded a population of 9,996 at the 2021 ce ...

, he worked in Scotland with

George MacLeod George Fielden MacLeod, Baron MacLeod of Fuinary, (17 June 1895 – 27 June 1991) was a Scottish soldier and clergyman; he was one of the best known, most influential and unconventional Church of Scotland ministers of the 20th century. He ...

. Marjorie died during this period, survived by the couple's eight-year-old son,

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

. In 1951, he returned to Australia, where he married Marjorie Lazarus, a Jewish widow. The couple settled in

Woollahra Woollahra ( ) is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woollahra is located east of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local go ...

, where the Dowding manse became a central meeting place for 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 ...

's left faction, including

Les Haylen Leslie Clement "Les" Haylen (23 September 1898 – 12 September 1977), also known by the pen-name Sutton Woodfield, was an Australian politician, playwright, novelist and journalist. Early life Haylen was born on 23 September 1898 at Gundaro ...

Eddie Ward Edward John Ward (7 March 189931 July 1963) was an Australian politician who represented the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in Parliament of Australia, federal parliament for over 30 years. He was the member for Division of East Sydney, East Sydn ...

and

H. V. Evatt Herbert Vere "Doc" Evatt, (30 April 1894 – 2 November 1965) was an Australian politician and judge. He served as a justice of the High Court of Australia from 1930 to 1940, Attorney-General of Australia, Attorney-General and Minister for For ...

. Dowding was also involved in the

Petrov Affair The Petrov Affair was a Cold War spy incident in Australia, concerning the defection of Vladimir Petrov, a KGB officer, from the Soviet embassy in Canberra in 1954. The defection led to a Royal Commission and the resulting controversy contribu ...

, becoming the confidant and spiritual advisor of Alan Dalziel, one of Evatt's staffers who was accused of being a Soviet spy. Following Dalziel's acquittal, Dowding moved to

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 ...

, becoming minister at

Ross Memorial Church The Ross Memorial Church is a Uniting church on Hay Street in West Perth, Western Australia, Australia. Established as a Presbyterian church in 1917, the church is home of the Wesley worshipping community of the Uniting Church in the City. ...

. He ran as the Labor candidate for

Swan Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...

in 1958, but by 1961 his views were outside the Labor mainstream and he was expelled from the party in 1962 for opposing the White Australia policy. Dowding was later readmitted to the Labor Party, becoming its senior WA vice-president and a life member; he was also readmitted to the

Returned Services League The Returned and Services League of Australia, also known as RSL, RSL Australia and the RSLA, is an independent support organisation for people who have served or are serving in the Australian Defence Force. History The League was formed in ...

, which had expelled him in 1953 for "alleged communist leanings". He was a campaigner for a wide variety of causes, serving as president of the Western Australian Council for Civil Liberties, convener of People for Nuclear Disarmament, president of the Western Australian branch of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

, founder of Freedom from Hunger in WA, chairman of the Refugee Task Force and West Australians for Racial Equality, and national vice-president of the

United Nations Association of Australia The United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA) is the official United Nations Association of Australia, working on behalf of the United Nations core body to promote its overall aims and ideals, and equally seeking to build support for the ...

. He and his second wife divorced and he remarried Jane Hutchison, an Anglo-Indian nurse he met in Nigeria working with the

Save the Children Fund The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...

, in the 1960s. He died in August 2008.

References

United Nations Association - Presidents and Life Members

References

Further reading