Rex Patterson : A Voice for the North by Lyndon Megarrity (Australian Biographical Monographs)

Rex Patterson : A Voice for the North by Lyndon Megarrity 

Australian Biographical Monographs 22

Paperback, 90 pages, $19.95

ISBN 9781922815972

This is the first biography of Rex Patterson, Federal Labor Member for Dawson in northern Queensland, a seat which he won unexpectedly in 1966 from the Country Party. In some ways his win marked the rise and rise of Gough Whitlam who a year later became federal Labor leader and eventually took Labor to victory in December 1972. Rex was a different sort of Labor member for that time – university educated and interested in rural and regional issues. He was a good choice by Whitlam in being made the first Minister for Northern Development. He also served as Minister for the Northern Territory; for a brief period in 1975, Patterson’s two portfolios were amalgamated and he became the first Minister for Northern Australia.

With the Whitlam Government falling apart in the last few months of 1975 with ministerial sackings and resignations, Patterson took over in the senior portfolio of Agriculture, but it was short-lived. A month later the Whitlam Government was sacked and lost at the subsequent December election. Rex lost his seat at that time and never returned to federal politics. Despite his brief time in office, Rex Patterson left a mark not just for his policy achievements and ideas, but for his dexterity and all round decency which this volume highlights so well. 

Born and educated in Townsville, Lyndon Megarrity completed his PhD at the University of New England (2002). He is the author of several books and articles, many of which focus on the history of Queensland and Northern Australia.