Reginald John Francis Coady (28 May 1918 – 13 May 1977) was an Australian politician and 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 ...

from 1954 until 1973. He was a member of the Labor Party (ALP). Coady was born in Forest Lodge and was the son of a carter. He was educated at Patrician Brothers High School, Forest Lodge and qualified as a book-keeper, eventually becoming the chief clerk for Tooheys Brewery. He was an official on the Federated Clerks' Union and became involved in community organisations in the

Glebe A glebe (, also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s)) is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved to the church. ...

area including the Saint Vincent de Paul Society and the

Australian Red Cross Australian Red Cross, formally Australian Red Cross Society, is a humanitarian aid and community services charity in Australia. Tracing its history back to 1914 and being incorporated by royal charter in 1941, Australian Red Cross Society is ...

. Coady was elected to the parliament as the Labor member for Leichhardt at the 1954 by-election caused by the suicide of the incumbent Labor member and ex-minister

Claude Matthews Claude Matthews (December 14, 1845 – August 28, 1898) was an American politician who served as the 23rd governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from 1893 to 1897. A farmer, he was nominated to prevent the loss of voters to the Populist Party ...

. Coady held the seat for the next 3 elections until the seat was abolished and he contested the seat of

Drummoyne Drummoyne is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Drummoyne is six kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of ...

at the 1962 election, defeating the sitting Liberal member Walter Lawrence. He retained the seat until his retirement at the 1973 election. Coady spent his entire 19-year career as a backbencher, and never held party or parliamentary office. However his victory over his 1968 Liberal opponent John Howard did set the pathway for Howard eventually becoming Prime Minister of Australia in 1996–2007. Coady died in Sydney on .

References

1918 births 1977 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Labor-NewSouthWales-MP-stub