Edward Albert Robertson (18 March 1929 – 5 January 1991) was an Australian politician. Born in Albany,

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 ...

, he was educated at the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

before becoming a teacher. Having moved to the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

, he became Chairman of the Northern Territory Council of Social Services. In 1975, he was elected to the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...

as one of the first two senators from the Northern Territory (the other was

Bernie Kilgariff Bernard Francis Kilgariff AM (30 September 1923 – 13 April 2010) was an Australian politician. He was one of the founders of the Country Liberal Party and served as a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly which included a stin ...

). He represented the Labor Party. He remained in the Senate until his retirement in 1987.

Early life

Robertson was born on 18 March 1929 in

Albany, Western Australia Albany ( ; ) is a port city in the Great Southern region in the Australian state of Western Australia, southeast of Perth, the state capital. The city centre is at the northern edge of Princess Royal Harbour, which is a part of King G ...

. He was the only child of Ethel Lucy (née Bamford) and Neil "Jock" Robertson. His mother was born in England and his father in Scotland. Robertson's parents separated before he was born and he was raised by his mother and maternal grandparents. He attended Albany Primary School and Albany High School, going on to train as a schoolteacher at

Claremont Teachers College Claremont Teachers College was Western Australia's first post-secondary teaching institution. It opened in 1902 and closed in 1981, when it became a College of Advanced Education then a campus of Edith Cowan University before being acquired by ...

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 ...

. He later completed the degrees of

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

Bachelor of Education A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed. or BEd) is an undergraduate academic degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. A Bachelor of Education program typically lasts three to four years and combines both coursework and practical exp ...

as a distance student at the

Teaching career

Robertson taught at schools around Western Australia, including as a senior master at Albany High School. In 1963 he was seconded to Darwin, as a supervisor of publications and adult education in the Northern Territory Education Department. He returned to Perth after two years, but in 1968 moved his family back to Darwin where he became an inspector of schools and adviser on education policy. He was chairman of the Regional Council for Social Development and the Northern Territory Council of Social Services.

Politics

Robertson first joined the ALP while living in Perth and was secretary of the

East Cannington East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

branch. He served on the state executive in Western Australia from 1966 to 1967. In the Northern Territory, he was secretary and later president of the party's Darwin branch and served as secretary (1968–1971) and president (1972–1974) of the

Australian Labor Party (Northern Territory Branch) The Territory Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (Northern Territory Branch) and commonly referred to simply as Territory Labor, is the Northern Territory branch of the Australian Labor Party. It has been led by Selena ...

. Robertson stood as the ALP candidate for 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

at the

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

and 1972 federal elections, losing to

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, ...

Sam Calder Stephen Edward "Sam" Calder AM, OBE, DFC (10 August 1916 – 30 September 2008) was a decorated World War II flying ace, member of the Australian House of Representatives, and one of the founders of the Northern Territory Country Liberal Part ...

on each occasion.

Senate

Robertson was elected to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

at the 1975 federal election, becoming one of the Northern Territory's first two senators alongside

of the

Country Liberal Party The Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory (CLP), commonly known as the Country Liberals, is a centre-right and conservative political party in Australia's Northern Territory. In territory politics, it operates in a two-party system wi ...

. He would be re-elected on four occasions. In the Senate, Robertson advocated for the passage of the ''

Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976 The ''Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976'' (ALRA) is Australian federal government legislation that provides the basis upon which Aboriginal Australian people in the Northern Territory can claim rights to land based on tradi ...

'' and chaired a select committee into substance abuse in the Northern Territory, as well as serving on the Joint Select Committee on Aboriginal Land Rights in the Northern Territory and Senate Standing Committee on Education and the Arts.

Personal life

Robertson married Hazel Audrey Curnow in 1954, with whom he had two sons and a daughter. He settled in Canberra after the end of his political career and served as national president of YMCA Australia. He died at his home in Canberra on 5 January 1991.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Ted 1929 births 1991 deaths People from Albany, Western Australia University of Western Australia alumni Australian schoolteachers Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for the Northern Territory 20th-century Australian politicians