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Claude Barnard

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Claude Barnard
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Bass
In office
15 September 1934 – 10 December 1949
Preceded byAllan Guy
Succeeded byBruce Kekwick
Personal details
Born(1890-10-16)16 October 1890
Mole Creek, Tasmania
Died6 December 1957(1957-12-06) (aged 67)
Launceston, Tasmania
NationalityAustralian
Political partyAustralian Labor Party
SpouseMartha Melva McKenzie
ChildrenLance Barnard
OccupationEngine driver

Herbert Claude Barnard (16 October 1890 – 6 December 1957) was an Australian politician and government minister.

Barnard was born at Mole Creek, Tasmania and was educated at Invermay State School, but left school at 14. In 1909 he began working for Tasmanian Government Railways, first as an engine cleaner and eventually as a driver. In March 1912 he married Martha Melva McKenzie and they raised three sons and a daughter in East Launceston. In 1920 he helped found the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen.[1]

Political career

Barnard stood unsuccessfully at the 1931 election as the Australian Labor Party candidate for the seat of Bass in the Australian House of Representatives. In 1933, he became state secretary of the party and at the 1934 election he won Bass. From 1941 to 1946, he was chairman of the joint parliamentary committee on social security, which developed much of the Curtin and Chifley governments' social policy agenda. In November 1946, he was appointed Minister for Repatriation in the second Chifley Ministry. Although one of his sons was killed in the war and the other two were injured, he was under constant attack from service organisations and others for not delivering more for war veterans and, like his predecessor, Charles Frost, in 1946, he lost his seat at the 1949 election.[1]

In 1950, Barnard was elected to represent the Tasmanian House of Assembly division of Bass and held it until his death. He died of cancer in Launceston Public Hospital, survived by his wife and two sons, one of whom, Lance Barnard, was Deputy Prime Minister of Australia 1972–74.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Chapman, R. j. k. (1993). "Barnard, Herbert Claude (1890–1957)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 13 January 2008.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister for Repatriation
1946–49
Succeeded by
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Member for Bass
1934–49
Succeeded by