| Sir Gordon Stewart McArthur1896-1965
President: 1958-1965 Legislative Council: 1931-1965 Gordon McArthur was born at South Yarra, one of a family originally from the western district which was to include several members of the Victorian Parliament. During World War 1 he served in the Royal Field Artillery from 1915 to 1918, losing a leg in 1917. In 1921 he completed a degree in mechanical science at Cambridge University and subsequently worked for BHP at Newcastle between 1921 and 1929. He then studied law and was called to the Victorian Bar in 1929.
In 1931 McArthur stood for and won South Western Province for the United Australia Party, and in 1934 he left the Bar to manage his father's property Meningoort, near Camperdown, which he inherited a year later. In 1936 he married Theodosia Syme. Although he was a member of the Legislative Council until his death in 1965, McArthur did not hold office until 1955-56, when he was an honorary minister. He then became Minister of Forests, State Development and Decentralization in 1956-58, and was elected President in 1958. He was President at the time of his death at East Melbourne, when he was given a State funeral. |