Sam Benson
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| Sam Benson CBE |
|
|---|---|
| Member of the Australian Parliament for Batman |
|
| In office 1 September 1962 – 29 September 1969 |
|
| Preceded by | Alan Bird |
| Succeeded by | Horrie Garrick |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 12 July 1909 Adelaide, South Australia |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Political party | Labor (1962–66) Independent (1966–69) |
| Occupation | Sailor |
Samuel James "Sam" Benson, CBE (12 July 1909 – 26 July 1995) was an Australian politician. Born in Adelaide, he was educated in that city at St Peter's College. He became a wool-classer, then a seaman and Port Phillip pilot, earning the rank of ship's master in 1938.[citation needed]
Benson joined the Royal Australian Navy during World War II, and commanded the Bathurst-class corvette HMAS Kiama.[1]
Having served as Mayor and Councillor on Williamstown City Council,[2] he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives in 1962 as the Labor member for Batman,[3][4] filling the vacancy formed by the death of Alan Bird.[5] Benson was re-elected in 1963, but three years later was expelled from the ALP.[5][6] The expulsion arose from Benson's support of continued Australian participation in the Vietnam War, and, more specifically, his refusal to resign from an organisation called the Defend Australia Committee, after it had been proscribed by the Federal Executive. This organisation comprised a number of Liberal Party, Democratic Labor Party and right-wing activists, and was supported by B.A. Santamaria.[7][8] Thereafter he served in parliament as an independent. He was re-elected as an independent in 1966, the first person to achieve this feat in the House of Representatives since Lewis Nott in 1949.[5]
Benson retired in 1969, and served as the General Secretary of the Merchant Service Guild from 1970 to 1972.[5] He died on 26 July 1995.[5]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ J.S. Legge (ed.) (1974), Who's Who in Australia, Herald and Weekly Times Limited, Melbourne, Australia, page 103.
- ↑ Lyle Allan (1995), 'Sam Benson for Batman and Australia. Labor preselection problems, the ethnic vote, and the ghost of Benson,' People and Place, Vol.3, No.3, Pages 54-56
- ↑ Andrew Lemon (1983), The Northcote Side of the River, Hargreen Publishing Company, North Melbourne, Page 268. ISBN 0-949905-12-7
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Peter Howson (edited by Don Aitkin) (1984), The Howson Diaries. The Life of Politics, Viking Press, Ringwood, Victoria, page 50. ISBN 0-7139-1656-7
- ↑ Michelle Grattan (1967), 'The Benson Affair', Australian Quarterly Vol. 39, No. 3, September, pages 20-37.
- ↑ Susanna Short (1992), Laurie Short. A Political Life, Allen and Unwin, North Sydney, New South Wales, page 246. ISBN 1-86373-188-1
| Parliament of Australia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member for Batman 1962–1969 |
Succeeded by Horrie Garrick |
- Use dmy dates from December 2015
- Use Australian English from December 2015
- All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English
- Articles with unsourced statements from October 2009
- Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia
- Independent members of the Parliament of Australia
- Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Batman
- Members of the Australian House of Representatives
- Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
- 1909 births
- 1995 deaths
