Nelson Lemmon (22 March 1908 – 20 March 1989) was an Australian politician. He was a member of 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 ...

(ALP) and served as Minister for Works and Housing (1946–1949) in the

Chifley government The Chifley government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Ben Chifley. It was made up of members of the Australian Labor Party in the Australian Parliament from 1945 to 1949. Background A week after Labor ...

. He played a key role in establishing the

Snowy Mountains Scheme The Snowy Mountains Scheme, also known as the Snowy Hydro or the Snowy scheme, is a hydroelectricity and irrigation in Australia, irrigation complex in south-east Australia. Near the border of New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

Early life

Lemmon was born at

Williamstown, Victoria Williamstown is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay Local government areas of Victoria, ...

, the son of

John Lemmon Edward John Lemmon (1 June 1930 – 29 July 1966) was a British logician and philosopher born in Sheffield, England. He is most well known for his work on modal logic, particularly his joint text with Dana Scott published posthumously (Lemm ...

politician and

member for Williamstown in 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 ...

from 1904 to 1955. He was educated at Williamstown State School and Longerenong Agricultural College, but subsequently moved to Ongerup, in the Great Southern region of

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 ...

, to take up farming, and married Ada Mary Jackel in 1930. Lemmon was later elected chairman of the Gnowangerup Road Board, becoming the youngest road board chairman in the state. He also served as a "prominent member" of the Wheatgrowers' Union.

Early political involvement

Running as an unendorsed Country Party candidate, Lemmon unsuccessfully contested the seat of Katanning in the Legislative Assembly at both a 1935 by-election and the 1936 state election. Lemmon was defeated by Arthur Watts, a future deputy premier, on both occasions, at the by-election losing by only 43 votes after five rounds of counting.

Federal politics

Remaining involved in politics, although switching to the Labor Party, Lemmon won 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 ...

seat of

Forrest Forrest may refer to: Places Australia *Forrest, Australian Capital Territory *Forrest, Victoria, a small rural township *Division of Forrest, a federal division of the Australian House of Representatives, in Western Australia *Electoral distric ...

at the 1943 election. He defeated longtime

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

member John Prowse on a swing of almost 14 percent as part of that year's massive Labor landslide. Notably, he won almost 53 percent of the primary vote, enough to take the seat off the Country Party without the need for preferences. He was Minister for Works and Housing in

Ben Chifley Joseph Benedict Chifley (; 22 September 1885 – 13 June 1951) was an Australian politician and train driver who served as the 16th prime minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949. He held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), and was n ...

's November 1946 ministry. In that role, he was responsible for the commencement of the construction of the

, a complex of dams, power stations and tunnels in southern

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

to produce

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

power and divert water for

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

to inland areas along the Murray and

Murrumbidgee River The Murrumbidgee River () is a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin and the second longest river in Australia. It flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, desce ...

s. He chose William Hudson as Commissioner of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority and refused to follow the normal procedure of putting forward three alternatives to cabinet. Lemmon was also responsible for commencing a substantial program of construction of houses for ex-servicemen returned from

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 ...

. Lemmon's tenure in cabinet ended with his defeat at the 1949 election, in which he lost to Liberal Gordon Freeth despite being well ahead on the primary vote. However, on the third count, preferences from Country Party candidate and war hero Arnold Potts flowed overwhelmingly to Freeth, allowing Freeth to defeat Lemmon from third place on the primary vote. At the 1954 election he won the New South Wales seat of

St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...

from Bill Graham and there was press speculation that he would run for Labor leadership. However, the Labor Party split in 1954 and Nelson lost to Graham at the 1955 election. He was one of only a small number of people who have represented more than one state or territory in the Parliament.

Later life

Lemmon returned to being a horse trainer and breeder in

Robertson, New South Wales Robertson is a town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The town is located on the edge of an elevated plateau (the Illawarra escarpment) about from the coast. Robertson is known for its high annua ...

. He died on 20 March 1989, at Port Macquarie, NSW, the last surviving member of the Chifley Cabinet. He was survived by his wife and a son and a daughter.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lemmon, Nelson Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Forrest Members of the Australian House of Representatives for St George Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Cabinet of Australia Mayors of places in Western Australia National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia 1908 births 1989 deaths People from Williamstown, Victoria Politicians from Melbourne Western Australian local councillors Australian MPs 1943–1946 Australian MPs 1946–1949 Australian MPs 1954–1955