David Kennedy (Australian politician)

Andrew David Kennedy (born 20 March 1940) is a former Australian politician. Born in Ulverstone, Tasmania, he attended University High School in Melbourne and then the University of Melbourne, after which he became a teacher in Victorian state schools. In 1969, he was elected as a Labor member to the Australian House of Representatives in the by-election for the seat of Bendigo following Noel Beaton's resignation. He held the seat until his defeat in 1972. In 1982, he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the member for Bendigo, and in 1985 he transferred to Bendigo West, a position he held until 1992 when the Labor government was defeated.^[1]

Kennedy's older brother, Cyril James Kennedy, also served in the Victorian state parliament, as the member for the Legislative Council seat of Waverley from 1979 to 1992.^[2] The brothers are both fifth-generation descendants (great-great-great-grandchildren) of Mannalargenna, a 19th-century Aboriginal Tasmanian leader.^[3] Consequently, using certain definitions of Aboriginality, some sources list them as amongst the few Indigenous Australians to have been elected to Australian legislatures.^[4] However, Neville Bonner, who entered federal parliament in 1971, two years after David Kennedy, is generally recognised as the first Aboriginal parliamentarian.^[5]

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