Australian Prime Minister. He served as the Prime Minister of Australia from January 10, 1968 to March 10, 1971. There is some confusion as to where he was born. His birth was registered in Victoria, Australia as having taken place in Prahran, Victoria. His father told him that he was born in Wellington, New Zealand and when he applied to enlist with Royal Australian Air Force on May 31, 1940, he listed Wellington as the place of his birth. There is no record of his birth in New Zealand, although his parents were known to have travelled there. He was the son of John Rose Gorton who had been born in Manchester, United Kingdom. As a young man he had migrated to Johannesburg, South Africa where he went into business as a merchant. He was in South Africa at the time of the Boer War; he is thought to have escaped the Siege of Ladysmith and then proceeded to Australia. John Rose Gorton separated from his wife, Kathleen O'Brien, who refused to grant him a divorce. He had an older half-sister, Ruth, who was a child of that marriage. John Rose Gorton began a relationship with Alice Sinn, who had been born in Melbourne to a German father and an Irish mother, and Gorton spent his early years living with his maternal grandparents in Port Melbourne, Victoria. At about age four, his parents took him to live with them in Sydney, New South Wales, where they had an apartment at Edgecliff. His education commenced at Edgecliff Preparatory School. At age eight, his mother contracted tuberculosis. She went to a sanatorium to avoid passing on the disease, and died aged 32 in September 1920. His father sent him to live with his estranged wife, Kathleen and there he met his full sister, Ruth for the first time. Ruth had been raised by Kathleen since birth, and rarely saw her biological parents. He lived with Kathleen and Ruth in Sydney, first at Cronulla and later at Killara. While living at Killara, he attended Headfort College, a private school run by a former Anglican minister. In 1924, he began boarding at Sydney Church of England Grammar School, commonly known as Shore. He began spending his school holidays with his father, who had purchased a farm at Mystic Park near the Murray River in Victoria, between Kerang and Swan Hill. His father had planted a citrus orchard. He left Shore at the end of 1926, and commenced as a boarder at Geelong Grammar School in Victoria where he attended for four years [1927 - 1930 inclusive]. He represented the school in athletics, football and rowing and was a school prefect and house captain in his final year. He spent 1931 working on his father's farm. His father then took out a second mortgage to allow him to travel to England to attend Oxford University. He arrived early in 1932, and passed the exam to enter Brasenose College. He took flying lessons at the same time and obtained a pilot's licence in June 1932. He finished his degree in June 1935 with an "upper second" in History, Politics and Economics. He won the OUBC Fours in his first year and was Captain of the Brasenose College Boat Club, which led to his election to Vincent's Club and Leander Club. While holidaying in Spain, he met Bettina Brown from Bangor, Maine, the younger sister of one of his College friends. They married in early 1935. After graduation, he and Bettina returned to Australia via the United States, spending some time with her family in Maine. He found his father in failing health, and during his father's illness, he had taken over the management of the orchard. His father died in August 1936. Over several years he paid off his father's overdraft of 5000 pounds. The farm was in good condition and he employed up to ten seasonal workers during picking season. Mystic Park was his primary residence until he was appointed to the Ministry of the Government of Australia in 1958, when he and his family moved to Canberra. Following the outbreak of World War II, he enlisted in the RAAF Reserve. He was accepted and commissioned into the RAAF on November 8, 1940. Soon after he was sent to the UK and completed his training at RAF Heston and RAF Honiley flying Supermarine Spitfires. By late 1941 he had become part of a Hawker Hurricane squadron, No 232 Squadron RAF, and Japan had entered the War. The squadron became operational and joined the remnants of several others that had been operating in Malaya. He was involved in a dogfight over the South China Sea, after which he suffered engine failure and was forced to land on Bintan Island, close to Singapore. While landing, a wheel of the Hurricane hit an embankment and the plane flipped over. He suffered severe facial injuries, mutilating his nose and breaking both cheekbones, also suffering lacerations to both arms. He was rescued by members of the Royal Dutch East Indies Army, which provided some medical treatment. He arrived in Singapore three days after it had been invaded by the Japanese. He was put on the Derrymore, an ammunition ship bound for Batavia. On February 13, 1942, close to its destination, the Derrymore was torpedoed, and abandoned. He spent almost a day on a crowded life-raft, in shark infested waters, with little drinking water, until the raft was spotted by HMAS Ballarat, which picked up the life-raft occupants and took them to Batavia. From there, he was put on a ship bound for Fremantle, Western Australia where he arrived on March 3, 1942. By this time his arms were septic and in need of extensive treatment. Posted to Darwin on August 12, 1942 he was involved in a second air accident. He, and his aircraft, were recovered after several days in the bush. On February 21, 1943 his squadron was relocated to Milne Bay, New Guinea. He escaped unhurt from another flying incident on March 18, 1943. In March 1944 he returned to Australia with the rank of Flight Lieutenant, where his final posting was as a Flying Instructor at Mildura, Victoria. He was discharged from the RAAF on December 5, 1944. Late in 1944 he had surgery which could not fully repair his facial injuries. After resuming life at Mystic Park, where Bettina had run the farm during the War, he was elected unopposed to Kerang Shire Council in September 1946. He remained on the Council until 1952, and served as Shire President from 1949 to 1950. In September 1947, he made a major speech opposing Prime Minister Chifley's proposal to nationalize private banks, clearly asserting his opposition to socialism. In March 1949, He was elected to the executive of a new party which called itself the Liberal and Country Party (LCP), which failed to secure Country Party support. As a result the new party affiliated itself with the federal Liberal Party of Australia. He was an LCP candidate for Northern Province in the Victorian Legislative Council. He polled 48.8% in the safe Country Party seat. The following month he was preselected for the third spot on the LCP's joint Senate ticket with the Country Party. The Coalition won a large majority in the 1949 Federal Election, including four out of Victoria's seven Senators. The LCP candidates joined the parliamentary Liberal Party. His term in the Senate began on February 22, 1950 and he was re-elected in 1951, 1953, 1958 and 1964. From the very start of his Senate career, his hallmark support for economic nationalism and strong central government were apparent. He developed a reputation as a hard-line anti-Communist and campaigned for a "Yes" vote during the 1951 referendum to ban the Communist Party. The Referendum failed to carry. Prime Minister Robert Menzies appointed him Minister for the Navy (December 10, 1958 to December 18, 1963) and Minister for the Interior (December 18, 1963 to 4 March 1964) and Minister for Works (December 18, 1963 to February 28, 1967). He was Minister for Education and Science in various Governments from February 16, 1962 until February 28, 1968. He was Leader of the Government in the Senate from October 16, 1967 until February 1, 1968. Following the disappearance at sea and presumed drowning of Prime Minister Harold Holt on December 17, 1967, Gorton became the first sitting Senator to become Prime Minister of Australia. He had been a Senator for Victoria from February 22, 1950 until February 1, 1968. On February 24, 1968, he was elected as Member of the Australian Parliament for Higgins at a by-election which arose following the disappearance and presumed death of Harold Holt. He remained the Member for Higgins until November 11, 1975, the date upon which a double dissolution election for both houses of parliament was called by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, after the dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. Gorton served as Australia's 19th Prime Minister from January 10, 1968 until March 10, 1971. On that date, as a result of the fact that the Parliamentary Liberal Party voted for a change of Leadership, which also resulted in him becoming Deputy Leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party, newly elected Leader William McMahon became Prime Minister. Gorton became Defence Minister in the McMahon Government, from March 19, 1971 until August 13, 1971, when McMahon sacked Gorton for "disloyalty." He ceased to be Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party on August 18, 1971, when Billy Mackie Snedden became Treasurer in William McMahon's Government, and Snedden was elected Deputy Leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party.
Australian Prime Minister. He served as the Prime Minister of Australia from January 10, 1968 to March 10, 1971. There is some confusion as to where he was born. His birth was registered in Victoria, Australia as having taken place in Prahran, Victoria. His father told him that he was born in Wellington, New Zealand and when he applied to enlist with Royal Australian Air Force on May 31, 1940, he listed Wellington as the place of his birth. There is no record of his birth in New Zealand, although his parents were known to have travelled there. He was the son of John Rose Gorton who had been born in Manchester, United Kingdom. As a young man he had migrated to Johannesburg, South Africa where he went into business as a merchant. He was in South Africa at the time of the Boer War; he is thought to have escaped the Siege of Ladysmith and then proceeded to Australia. John Rose Gorton separated from his wife, Kathleen O'Brien, who refused to grant him a divorce. He had an older half-sister, Ruth, who was a child of that marriage. John Rose Gorton began a relationship with Alice Sinn, who had been born in Melbourne to a German father and an Irish mother, and Gorton spent his early years living with his maternal grandparents in Port Melbourne, Victoria. At about age four, his parents took him to live with them in Sydney, New South Wales, where they had an apartment at Edgecliff. His education commenced at Edgecliff Preparatory School. At age eight, his mother contracted tuberculosis. She went to a sanatorium to avoid passing on the disease, and died aged 32 in September 1920. His father sent him to live with his estranged wife, Kathleen and there he met his full sister, Ruth for the first time. Ruth had been raised by Kathleen since birth, and rarely saw her biological parents. He lived with Kathleen and Ruth in Sydney, first at Cronulla and later at Killara. While living at Killara, he attended Headfort College, a private school run by a former Anglican minister. In 1924, he began boarding at Sydney Church of England Grammar School, commonly known as Shore. He began spending his school holidays with his father, who had purchased a farm at Mystic Park near the Murray River in Victoria, between Kerang and Swan Hill. His father had planted a citrus orchard. He left Shore at the end of 1926, and commenced as a boarder at Geelong Grammar School in Victoria where he attended for four years [1927 - 1930 inclusive]. He represented the school in athletics, football and rowing and was a school prefect and house captain in his final year. He spent 1931 working on his father's farm. His father then took out a second mortgage to allow him to travel to England to attend Oxford University. He arrived early in 1932, and passed the exam to enter Brasenose College. He took flying lessons at the same time and obtained a pilot's licence in June 1932. He finished his degree in June 1935 with an "upper second" in History, Politics and Economics. He won the OUBC Fours in his first year and was Captain of the Brasenose College Boat Club, which led to his election to Vincent's Club and Leander Club. While holidaying in Spain, he met Bettina Brown from Bangor, Maine, the younger sister of one of his College friends. They married in early 1935. After graduation, he and Bettina returned to Australia via the United States, spending some time with her family in Maine. He found his father in failing health, and during his father's illness, he had taken over the management of the orchard. His father died in August 1936. Over several years he paid off his father's overdraft of 5000 pounds. The farm was in good condition and he employed up to ten seasonal workers during picking season. Mystic Park was his primary residence until he was appointed to the Ministry of the Government of Australia in 1958, when he and his family moved to Canberra. Following the outbreak of World War II, he enlisted in the RAAF Reserve. He was accepted and commissioned into the RAAF on November 8, 1940. Soon after he was sent to the UK and completed his training at RAF Heston and RAF Honiley flying Supermarine Spitfires. By late 1941 he had become part of a Hawker Hurricane squadron, No 232 Squadron RAF, and Japan had entered the War. The squadron became operational and joined the remnants of several others that had been operating in Malaya. He was involved in a dogfight over the South China Sea, after which he suffered engine failure and was forced to land on Bintan Island, close to Singapore. While landing, a wheel of the Hurricane hit an embankment and the plane flipped over. He suffered severe facial injuries, mutilating his nose and breaking both cheekbones, also suffering lacerations to both arms. He was rescued by members of the Royal Dutch East Indies Army, which provided some medical treatment. He arrived in Singapore three days after it had been invaded by the Japanese. He was put on the Derrymore, an ammunition ship bound for Batavia. On February 13, 1942, close to its destination, the Derrymore was torpedoed, and abandoned. He spent almost a day on a crowded life-raft, in shark infested waters, with little drinking water, until the raft was spotted by HMAS Ballarat, which picked up the life-raft occupants and took them to Batavia. From there, he was put on a ship bound for Fremantle, Western Australia where he arrived on March 3, 1942. By this time his arms were septic and in need of extensive treatment. Posted to Darwin on August 12, 1942 he was involved in a second air accident. He, and his aircraft, were recovered after several days in the bush. On February 21, 1943 his squadron was relocated to Milne Bay, New Guinea. He escaped unhurt from another flying incident on March 18, 1943. In March 1944 he returned to Australia with the rank of Flight Lieutenant, where his final posting was as a Flying Instructor at Mildura, Victoria. He was discharged from the RAAF on December 5, 1944. Late in 1944 he had surgery which could not fully repair his facial injuries. After resuming life at Mystic Park, where Bettina had run the farm during the War, he was elected unopposed to Kerang Shire Council in September 1946. He remained on the Council until 1952, and served as Shire President from 1949 to 1950. In September 1947, he made a major speech opposing Prime Minister Chifley's proposal to nationalize private banks, clearly asserting his opposition to socialism. In March 1949, He was elected to the executive of a new party which called itself the Liberal and Country Party (LCP), which failed to secure Country Party support. As a result the new party affiliated itself with the federal Liberal Party of Australia. He was an LCP candidate for Northern Province in the Victorian Legislative Council. He polled 48.8% in the safe Country Party seat. The following month he was preselected for the third spot on the LCP's joint Senate ticket with the Country Party. The Coalition won a large majority in the 1949 Federal Election, including four out of Victoria's seven Senators. The LCP candidates joined the parliamentary Liberal Party. His term in the Senate began on February 22, 1950 and he was re-elected in 1951, 1953, 1958 and 1964. From the very start of his Senate career, his hallmark support for economic nationalism and strong central government were apparent. He developed a reputation as a hard-line anti-Communist and campaigned for a "Yes" vote during the 1951 referendum to ban the Communist Party. The Referendum failed to carry. Prime Minister Robert Menzies appointed him Minister for the Navy (December 10, 1958 to December 18, 1963) and Minister for the Interior (December 18, 1963 to 4 March 1964) and Minister for Works (December 18, 1963 to February 28, 1967). He was Minister for Education and Science in various Governments from February 16, 1962 until February 28, 1968. He was Leader of the Government in the Senate from October 16, 1967 until February 1, 1968. Following the disappearance at sea and presumed drowning of Prime Minister Harold Holt on December 17, 1967, Gorton became the first sitting Senator to become Prime Minister of Australia. He had been a Senator for Victoria from February 22, 1950 until February 1, 1968. On February 24, 1968, he was elected as Member of the Australian Parliament for Higgins at a by-election which arose following the disappearance and presumed death of Harold Holt. He remained the Member for Higgins until November 11, 1975, the date upon which a double dissolution election for both houses of parliament was called by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, after the dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. Gorton served as Australia's 19th Prime Minister from January 10, 1968 until March 10, 1971. On that date, as a result of the fact that the Parliamentary Liberal Party voted for a change of Leadership, which also resulted in him becoming Deputy Leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party, newly elected Leader William McMahon became Prime Minister. Gorton became Defence Minister in the McMahon Government, from March 19, 1971 until August 13, 1971, when McMahon sacked Gorton for "disloyalty." He ceased to be Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party on August 18, 1971, when Billy Mackie Snedden became Treasurer in William McMahon's Government, and Snedden was elected Deputy Leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party.
Bio by: James Nicol
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