William McKell

Sir William John McKell, GCMG, KStJ ( born September 26, 1891 in Pambula, New South Wales, † 11 January 1985 in Sydney, New South Wales) was an Australian politician and, inter alia, twelfth Governor General of Australia.

Early life

McKell was in Pambula, New South Wales, the son of a butcher. He attended the Bourke Street Public School in Sydney and was a boilermaker. From 1915 he was a senior trade union secretary of the Boilermakers ' Union in New South Wales.

Political career

New South Wales

For the electoral district Redfern he was in 1917 elected as a candidate of the Australian Labor Party in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. This seat he held until his appointment as Governor-General in 1947. Was only in the period from 1920 to 1927 during the time of elections ratio McKell came to the constituency Botany. His wife Mary Pye He married 1920. During his Parliament, he studied law and became a barrister in 1925. In the Labor governments of Jack Lang, he was Minister of Justice (1925-1927 and 1931-1932), as well as local minister ( 1930-1931 ).

In the 1930s, McKell opposition leader was expelled in the Labor Party of New South Wales against its own chairman Jack Lang because of poor election results, which he drove in 1939 as party leader and opposition leader in the state. In the elections in 1941 McKell succeeded with his party a convincing victory in New South Wales and he became Prime Minister of the State

During the Second World War McKell was a close associate of Prime Minister John Curtin and Ben Chifley. With the latter, he was also a close friend. In February 1947, Chifley won by King George VI. formal approval for McKells appointment as Governor General. At this time, McKell was still Premier of New South Wales, but had already announced his desire to retire from active politics.

Governor-general

Chifley was of the opinion that the successor of Henry, Duke of Gloucester, should be an Australian. As with the appointment of Sir Isaac Isaacs, there were protests from conservatives and from London, but the times when the British king could dictate the Australian Prime Minister, the election of the Governor General, were over. After McKell showed great respect for the crown and the UK after his appointment, he was able also to appease the critics.

Great controversy sparked McKell in 1951 with its decision, released at the request of the Liberal Prime Minister Robert Menzies, the House of Representatives and the Senate. At this time, the Australian Labor Party, who had McKell heard earlier, had recaptured the majority in the Senate, but in contrast to most laboratory members representing McKell the position that the people should elect the new government.

Also controversial was the decision McKells in the Labor Party discussed by King George VI. to accept the accolade. The Labor Party, a workers' party, pursued the policy to strictly separate from the British monarchy. From the year 1951 was now called Sir McKell, but this he was honored formally until 1953, when it was possible for him to travel to the UK. Since the king was now dead, Elizabeth II performed the ceremony.

McKell retired in May 1953 by his office. From June 1956 to 1957 he worked in the Reid Commission, which drafted the Malaysian Constitution.

Later years

McKell lived for another 30 years in Sydney and died there in 1985.