Sir Ransley Victor Garland KBE (5 May 1934 – 1 January 2022), usually known as Vic Garland, was an Australian politician and diplomat. He was a member of 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 ...

from 1969 to 1981, representing the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

, and served as a minister in the

McMahon McMahon or MacMahon ( or ) may refer to: Places * Division of McMahon, an electorate for the Australian House of Representatives * McMahon, Saskatchewan, a hamlet in Canada * McMahon Line, a boundary between India and China * McMahons Point, a ...

and

Fraser government The Fraser government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. It was made up of members of a Liberal–Country party coalition in the Australian Parliament from November 1975 to March 1983. Init ...

s. He later served as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1983.

Early life

Garland was born in 1934 and grew up in

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 ...

, Western Australia. He was educated at Hale School and 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 ...

, obtaining 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 ...

with a major in Economics. He followed his father into the accounting profession, practising as a chartered accountant from 1958 to 1969. He served as a councillor for the South Ward of the Town of Claremont from 1963 to 1970, finishing as deputy mayor. He joined the

in 1957, and served in several branch and administrative roles. He was the Curtin division president in 1960–1961 and president of the Claremont branch from 1965. At the time of his preselection in 1969, he was senior vice-president of the Liberal Party's Western Australian Division.

Politics

Early career

When Paul Hasluck resigned from Parliament in 1969 to become Governor-General of Australia, Garland succeeded him as the member for Curtin, a comfortably safe Liberal seat in

's wealthy beachside suburbs. Following a cabinet reshuffle in August 1971, Garland was appointed Minister for Supply in the McMahon government. Aged 37, he became the second-youngest member of the ministry after Andrew Peacock. In March 1972, he was also appointed Minister assisting the Treasurer, in place of Peacock. He retained his positions until the defeat of the government at the 1972 federal election. Notably, as supply minister he authorised the purchase of ten new

Westland Sea King The Westland WS-61 Sea King is a British licence-built version of the American Sikorsky S-61 helicopter of the same name, built by Westland Helicopters. The aircraft differs considerably from the American version, with Rolls-Royce Gnome eng ...

helicopters to replace the Westland Wessex as Australia's

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations ar ...

helicopters. He also unsuccessfully attempted to convince cabinet to purchase Dassault Mirage F1 fighter jets from France, which would have been manufactured in Australia. Garland was named in Billy Snedden's interim opposition executive after the election, but failed to win election to the shadow ministry when a vote was held in January 1973. However, in June 1974 he succeeded Max Fox as Chief Opposition Whip.

Fraser government

After the Coalition's victory at the 1975 federal election, Garland was appointed Minister for Post and Telecommunications in the

. He was the first person to hold the title, which replaced the earlier position of

Postmaster-General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. History The practice of having a government officia ...

. Garland resigned from the ministry on 6 February 1976, when the Commonwealth Police began an investigation into allegations that he had violated the electoral act. He and former senator George Branson were alleged to have paid $500 to cover the electoral expenses of Michael Cavanough, an independent Senate candidate in the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

(ACT), on the condition that he direct his preferences to the Liberal candidate John Knight. The allegations were first publicised by ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in 1 ...

'' in the lead-up to the election. Garland and Branson denied that they had engaged in bribery, as they were of the belief that Cavanough had already agreed to give his preferences to Knight. The charges were dismissed at a committal hearing in the

Magistrates Court of the Australian Capital Territory The Magistrates Court of the Australian Capital Territory is a court of summary jurisdiction that deals with the majority of criminal law matters and the majority of small civil law matters in the Australian Capital Territory, the Jervis Bay T ...

on 8 March, with the chief magistrate stating that there was a ''

prima facie ''Prima facie'' (; ) is a Latin expression meaning "at first sight", or "based on first impression". The literal translation would be "at first face" or "at first appearance", from the feminine forms of ' ("first") and ' ("face"), both in the a ...

'' case against the pair but that "a jury properly directed would not convict the defendants". ''The Canberra Times'' was critical of the decision to discharge the defendants without a trial, stating that it left doubt as to the legality of their conduct and also deprived them of the vindication of an acquittal. For several months Garland remained a backbencher before being appointed the first Chairman of the House of Representatives Expenditure Committee (1976–1977),

Minister for Veterans' Affairs The Minister for Veterans' Affairs is an Australian Government position. In the Government of Australia, the minister oversees income support, compensation, care and commemoration programs for more than 400,000 veterans and their widows, widowe ...

(1977–1978), Minister for Special Trade Representations (1978–1979) and Minister for Business and Consumer Affairs (1979–1980).

Later life

Following the November 1980 federal election, Garland resigned from Parliament on 22 January 1981 to accept appointment as Australian High Commissioner in the United Kingdom, a post he held from 1981 to 1983. In 1982, he became a Knight Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(KBE). Following his departure from the High Commissioner's post, he stayed on in London, serving as non-executive director or executive director of over 30 companies in the UK and the US. The most notable were the Prudential Assurance plc for nearly 10 years, the South Bank Board (Royal Festival Hall Complex) as vice-chairman for 15 years, The Throgmorton Trust plc, Classic ITC Threadneedle AMC (India), Nelson Hurst plc, Signet Group plc, The Ark Funds Inc. (US), Mitchell Cotts plc, Fidelity Asian Values plc and many finance companies, some of which he chaired. In July 2007 he returned to Perth, Western Australia.

Personal life and death

In 1960 he married Lynette Jamieson, and they had three children. Lady Garland is an active professional classical pianist who performs as Lyn Garland. Victor Garland died on 1 January 2022, at the age of 87. His death left Tom Hughes (who died on 28 November 2024) as the last surviving Liberal member of the McMahon Ministry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garland, Victor 1934 births 2022 deaths Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Curtin Australian Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire High commissioners of Australia to the United Kingdom Permanent representatives of Australia to the International Maritime Organization Government ministers of Australia Australian accountants University of Western Australia alumni People educated at Hale School Politicians from Perth, Western Australia Australian monarchists Western Australian local councillors Deputy mayors of places in Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Australian MPs 1966–1969 Australian MPs 1969–1972 Australian MPs 1972–1974 Australian MPs 1974–1975 Australian MPs 1975–1977 Australian MPs 1977–1980 Australian MPs 1980–1983