Sir Reginald Victor Wilson KBE (30 June 1877 – 13 July 1957) was an Australian politician and businessman. He served a single term as a

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

for

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

(1920–1926) and was an honorary minister (1923–1925) and Minister for Markets and Migration in the Bruce–Page government (1925–1926).

Early life

Wilson was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

on 30 June 1877, the son of Elizabeth Ann (née Tonkin) and James Wilson, a storekeeper. He was educated at Riverton and Whinham College,

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct (Australia), precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. Laid out in a grid plan in three section ...

. He bought a store at

Broken Hill, New South Wales Broken Hill is a city in the Far West (New South Wales), far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, it is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Hi ...

in 1898 and he married Lily May Suckling in February 1901. He was elected an alderman of the City of Broken Hill in 1908, but moved to Adelaide in 1909. He was mayor of the Corporate Town of St Peters in 1916 and 1917.

Political career

Wilson ran unsuccessfully for the South Australian Legislative Assembly seats of Torrens in 1912 and East Torrens in 1918, but 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 a nominee of the Farmers and Settlers' Association to the composite

Nationalist Party of Australia The Nationalist Party, also known as the National Party, was an Australian political party. It was formed in February 1917 from a merger between the Commonwealth Liberal Party, Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the latter formed by ...

ticket at the 1919 election. From 1923 to 1925, he was an honorary minister in the Bruce-Page government with some responsibility for health and immigration. In March 1923,

Stanley Bruce Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne (15 April 1883 – 25 August 1967) was an Australian politician, statesman and businessman who served as the eighth prime minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929. He held office as ...

put him in charge of organising the Australian pavilion for the

British Empire Exhibition The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley Park, London England from 23 April to 1 November 1924 and from 9 May to 31 October 1925. Background In 1920 the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government decide ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

, London, which was aimed at stimulating

immigration to Australia The Australian continent was first settled when ancestors of Indigenous Australians arrived via the islands of Maritime Southeast Asia and New Guinea over 50,000 years ago. European colonisation began in 1788 with the establishment of a B ...

, promoting foreign investment and developing markets for Australian produce. In London, he also sought to negotiate an immigration agreement with the United Kingdom. He later negotiated a reciprocal trade agreement with

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, which still gives some preferences for cars and car parts. Wilson returned to Australia in June 1924 and was appointed Minister for Markets and Migration in January 1925. Although he had joined the Country Party, he refused to attend its parliamentary meetings and he refused to nominate for its pre-selection at the 1925 election on the basis that pre-selection should be automatic for ministers. As a result, the South Australian Country Party refused to endorse him and, even with Bruce's support, he gained only fourth place on the non-Labor ticket for the Senate and, as a result, failed to be re-elected.

Later life

Wilson moved to Sydney in the late 1920s. He was president of the Motion Picture Distributors' Association from 1927 to 1939 and was accused of favouring American over Australian and British films. Wilson also served on the

National Health and Medical Research Council The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is the main statutory authority of the Australian Government responsible for medical research. It was the eighth largest research funding body in the world in 2016, and NHMRC-funded res ...

(1938–1946), senior vice-chairman of the Royal North Shore Hospital (1938–1957), and chairman of National Press Ltd, the publisher of ''

Smith's Weekly ''Smith's Weekly'' was an Australian tabloid newspaper published from 1919 to 1950. It was an independent weekly published in Sydney, but read all over Australia. History The publication took its name from its founder and chief financer Sir ...

''. He died in his house in the Sydney suburb of

Neutral Bay Neutral Bay is a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Neutral Bay is around 1.5 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of North Sydney Council. Neutral Bay takes ...

on 13 July 1957, survived by two daughters.

Honours

Wilson was made 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 ...

in 1926.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Victor 1877 births 1957 deaths Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for South Australia Members of the Cabinet of Australia Mayors of places in South Australia Australian Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire