Stephen Edward "Sam" Calder AM,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, DFC (10 August 1916 – 30 September 2008) was a decorated

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

flying ace, member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Austra ...

, and one of the founders of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...

Country Liberal Party The Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory (CLP) is a centre-right political party in Australia's Northern Territory. In local politics it operates in a two-party system with the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It also contests federal ...

. In federal parliament, he sat with the Country Party, later renamed the National Country Party.

Early life

Calder was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

, Victoria and educated at Melbourne Grammar before joining the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

in 1932. Trained as a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

, Calder flew

Typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

planes throughout World War II, completing 120 missions over

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

and receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross. Following the end of hostilities in 1945, Calder returned to Australia and worked as the chief pilot for

-based airline

Connellan Airways Connellan Airways (later Connair) was an airline headquartered in Alice Springs, Australia. It operated scheduled flights as well other air transport services throughout the Northern Territory from 1939 to 1980. History The company was fo ...

. The airline prospered as it provided a vast network of medical, passenger and mail services throughout the Northern Territory. The airline would eventually collapse following a decision by Northern Territory

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

Paul Everingham Paul Anthony Edward Everingham (born 4 February 1943) is a former Australian politician who was the head of government of the Northern Territory of Australia from 1977 to 1984, serving as the second and last Majority Leader (1977–1978) and ...

, a political opponent of Calder, to give competing airline Ansett Airlines the rights to the

Darwin Darwin may refer to: Common meanings * Charles Darwin (1809–1882), English naturalist and writer, best known as the originator of the theory of biological evolution by natural selection * Darwin, Northern Territory, a territorial capital city i ...

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

route. Not content with this, Calder also took on the challenge of managing

cattle station In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm (station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a ''grazier''. The largest cattle statio ...

s the size of some European countries. Calder married Australian actress Daphne Campbell after they met while she was filming the 1946 Anglo-Australian film '' The Overlanders'' in the Northern Territory.

Politics

Calder's high profile in the Northern Territory led federal Country Party leader

John McEwen Sir John McEwen, (29 March 1900 – 20 November 1980) was an Australian politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Australia, holding office from 1967 to 1968 in a caretaker capacity after the disappearance of Harold Holt. He was th ...

to ask him to stand as a Country Party candidate at the 1966 federal election in the

Division of Northern Territory The Division of Northern Territory was an Australian Electoral Division in the Northern Territory for the Parliament of Australia. Throughout its existence, it was the only Division in the Northern Territory. At the redistribution of 21 Decembe ...

. A conservative party had never won the seat, and it was considered a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

stronghold. Indeed, the Country Party had last run a candidate there in 1954. However, Calder took advantage of the retirement of longtime Labor MP

Jock Nelson John Norman Nelson (28 May 1908 – 20 June 1991) was an Australian politician. Born in Bundaberg, Queensland, he was the son of politician Harold Nelson. Jock Nelson was educated at state schools in Darwin before becoming a jackeroo and ...

to win the seat by only 400-odd votes in 1966. He would extend that margin into thousands over the next decade and a half. Though he seldom addressed parliament, leading to his nickname "Silent Sam", Calder played an active role, pushing for development in the Northern Territory, and could claim some of the credit for the construction of the

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

-Alice Springs train line and several new roads. He also took a measure of credit for the Member for Northern Territory being granted full voting rights in 1968, as well as the Northern Territory being granted a fully elected Legislative Assembly,

self-government __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form o ...

, Senate representation, and the right to vote in national referendums. After the creation of the Legislative Assembly, Calder helped persuade the Territory's Liberal and Country parties to merge into the

, which held government in the Northern Territory for over a quarter of a century. Calder also had many ambitious plans which failed to see the light of day, including Northern Territory statehood and a

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced ...

station in the Territory. He retired in 1980. For his entire political career, Calder was a staunch opponent of Aboriginal land rights, believing that the then governing Labor Party had sold Australia to the Aboriginals. Even in retirement, Calder continued to fight the furthering of Aboriginal rights, arguing that they made Aboriginals lazy. Calder died in Darwin late in the evening of 30 September 2008, aged 92.Bourchier, D. ''Northern Territory News'', "PM rejects state funeral for NT hero", 2 October 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calder, Sam 1916 births 2008 deaths People educated at Melbourne Grammar School Country Liberal Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Northern Territory Members of the Order of Australia Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia 20th-century Australian politicians Australian World War II flying aces Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Australian Air Force officers