Don Willesee

Donald Robert " Don " Willesee ( born April 14, 1916 in Derby, Western Australia; † 9 September 2003 in Joondalup, Western Australia ) was an Australian politician and Foreign Minister of the country.

Early life

Willesee was born in Derby, Western Australia, and teaches at the state and religious schools in Carnarvon. After his brother and his father had lost their jobs, he left at the age of 14 years during the Great Depression the school to work as a postal clerk in Carnarvon and joined immediately the Australian Union of Postal Clerks and Telegraphists at the secretary he became. Later he worked as a telegraph operator in Perth. In 1940 he married Gwendoline Clarke.

Political career

At the age of 21 years, Willesee the Australian Labor Party joined and was elected in 1950 with 33 years as a senator for Western Australia. At this time he was the youngest senator ever elected in Australia. Before the federal election in 1972, he worked with Prime Minister Whitlam in reforming the Labor Party. According to Kim Beazley he was a " ... key assistant for Gough Whitlam in the restructuring of the Labor Party and made a brilliant impression in the government. "

After the parliamentary elections in 1972, he was Special Minister of State, Vice - President of the Executive Council, assisted as Minister to the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs assisted during Whitlam's second term of office. As Special Minister of State, he sat down for the archiving of libraries on computers one to national, state and university libraries on networked, which turned out to be a great success. On November 30, 1973 Willesee received by the Foreign Minister Whitlam. At this time he was Whitlam tasked relations with Asia to expand. He was against the Indonesian invasion of East Timor, as he did not want to make the decision for the people of East Timor, whether they should belong to Indonesia or not. With his mind he faced Whitlam, who was to the integration of East Timor by Indonesia. For the federal elections in 1975, he no longer was available.

Death

Willesee died at Joondalup Hospital, Joondalup, Western Australia, two weeks after he suffered a heart attack. He is survived by his wife, Gwen, and their six children Colleen, Mike, Terry, Geraldine, Don Jr. and Peter.

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