Cleaver Bunton

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Cleaver Ernest Bunton AO, OBE (5 May 1902 - 20 January 1999) was a long serving public official in Albury, New South Wales who came to national prominence in 1975 when he was controversially appointed to the Australian Senate.

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[edit] Early life

Born in Albury, New South Wales, Bunton left school at 13 and initially worked as a clerk in a solicitor's office before becoming an accountant. He also was involved in Albury sporting and community affairs, playing Australian rules football with the Albury Football Club, becoming captain-coach and club secretary at 17. His younger brother Haydn Bunton went on to become a notable Australian rules footballer.

Bunton married Eileen O'Malley in 1930.

In 1930 Bunton was elected president of the Ovens and Murray Football League (a position he held until 1969). He also held administrative roles in the Victorian Country Football League, the West Albury Tennis Club and a range of other community groups and organisations.

[edit] Municipal career

In recognition of his role in Albury, Bunton was encouraged to run for a position on the Albury Municipal Council, and was elected in 1925 at the age of 22, the youngest person ever elected to a council to that time. After initially retiring in 1931, he returned to the council in 1937, elected Mayor of Albury in 1945 and served as such (with a few minor breaks) until August 1976. Bunton was also a regional radio commentator, commenting on sport and reading the news bulletins.

[edit] Appointment to the Australian Senate

Bunton would have remained an uncontroversial hardworking local administrator but for the resignation of Australian Labor Party Senator Lionel Murphy on 9 February 1975 to take up an appointment as a judge of the High Court.

Convention dictated that Senate casual vacancies were filled by persons from the same political party. However, the New South Wales Liberal Party Premier, Tom Lewis, defied this convention by appointing Bunton, who was not affiliated with any party, on 27 February. Facing a hostile Labor Party (and sometimes hostile electorate), Bunton surprised many observers by acting independently rather than a Liberal appointee, and resisted urgings from the Malcolm Fraser-led Opposition to block the supply bills of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's government. The fact that he abstained from voting nonetheless denied the ALP one of the votes it needed to control the senate. Bunton was therefore involved in, and partly responsible for, the constitutional crisis that culminated when Governor-General John Kerr dismissed Whitlam.

Bunton chose not to contest the ensuing election but retire, and his term ended on 11 November.

[edit] Honours

For his services, Bunton was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1954,[1] an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1975,[2] a member of the Ovens and Murray League Hall Of Fame, as well as receiving an honorary degree from Charles Sturt University and having a street in Albury, a chrysanthemum and a ward in the Albury Base Hospital named in his honour. In recognition of his years of service to his home city, Bunton was occasionally known by the sobriquet `Mr Albury'.

[edit] References

  1. ^ It's an Honour - Officer of the Order of the British Empire
  2. ^ It's an Honour - Officer of the Order of Australia
Preceded by
Dudley Padman		 Mayor of Albury
1946 – 1960		 Succeeded by
John King
Preceded by
John King		 Mayor of Albury
1961 – 1972		 Succeeded by
Tom Pearsall
Preceded by
Tom Pearsall		 Mayor of Albury
1974 – 1976		 Succeeded by
Max Barry