For a small town, Gunnedah has always punched above its weight, even to the point of producing a string of parliamentary representatives, who have lived and worked in the town.
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Former Mayor Adam Marshall, who was sworn in last week after winning a by-election in the state seat of Northern Tablelands, joins another Gunnedah resident, Sarah Mitchell, who was elected to the NSW Legislative Council in 2011, at the age of 28.
At the same age, Adam Marshall is now the youngest member of the NSW Legislative Assembly, after winning the Northern Tablelands seat vacated by Richard Torbay.
Both members of the Nationals, Adam Marshall and Sarah Mitchell have followed a trend set by former Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson, who grew up on the family property, Newstead, near Mullaley, and attended Gunnedah South School.
He succeeded Member for Gwydir, Ralph Hunt, in April 1989, and won a further six elections, retiring in 2007.
He acted as shadow Minister for Primary Industries and Energy when the Coalition was in Opposition and in
1993 was elected Deputy Leader of the Nationals.
When the Coalition won government in 1996, he became the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy. In October 1998 he moved to the portfolio of Transport and Regional Services.
Party Leader Tim Fischer stepped down in July, 1999 and Mr Anderson defeated Ian Causley for the top spot, which also made him the Deputy Prime Minister. Mr Anderson was Acting PM, on September 11, 2001, when the world was stunned by the acts of terrorism at the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. He led the Australian response to the atrocities until Mr Howard returned to Australia four days later.
Mr Anderson announced his decision to stand down as party leader and Deputy PM, in July 2005, citing health and family reasons.
Sarah Mitchell attended Gunnedah South and Gunnedah High School and developed an interest in politics when she was studying a Science/Arts degree at university, where she found the Politics and International Relations component very interesting.
She had completed work experience with the then Member for Gwydir John Anderson, who offered her a job in his electorate office in 2005.
Over the next few years, Sarah was involved in media work, based in the Gunnedah office, while travelling around the electorate with the former Deputy Prime Minister.
After John Anderson’s retirement, Sarah continued to gain valuable experience in Mark Coulton’s office in Moree, where she worked for more than three years.
After finishing Year 6 at Gunnedah South, Adam Marshall completed his secondary studies at Tamworth’s Farrer High School and with a keen interest in politics, went on to work for Independent Member for Tamworth, Peter Draper, before taking up a position at the Namoi Valley Independent.
He later became Deputy Mayor and then Mayor of Gunnedah Shire Council.
After announcing his decision not to seek re-election last year, he enrolled at university in Armidale and was pre-selected by the Nationals to contest the state seat of Northern Tablelands in the May 25 by-election.
Incumbent Minister for Tourism, Major Events, Hospitality and Racing, and Minister for the Arts, George Souris, is also a local born in Gunnedah in 1949.
He attended Gunnedah Public School and TAS College, Armidale, before completing university studies at UNE.
Mr Souris has represented Upper Hunter for the National Party of Australia since 1988. He was a councillor at Singleton for seven years, four of those as Deputy President. His initial term included his home town of Gunnedah until the Parliament was reduced by 10 seats and the redistribution placed Gunnedah in the Barwon seat.
He was Minister for Finance and Minister for Ethnic Affairs from July, 1992 to May, 1993 and Minister for Land and Water Conservation from May, 1993 to the defeat of the Fahey government in March, 1995.
He was the leader of the Parliamentary National Party from January 1999 to March 2003.
Frank O’Keefe was a giant in the history of Gunnedah.
He was a State and Federal Parliamentarian for more than 20 years, the longest-serving Mayor and alderman in Gunnedah’s municipal history and a prominent businessman and sportsman.
His public life began in 1944 when he was elected to Gunnedah Municipal Council, topping the poll.
As a young man, Frank O’Keefe had been interested in politics. He tried three times to win the state seat of Liverpool Plains, finally winning the seat in 1961 by just 50 votes – he never lost another election, state or federal, for the next 23 years.
After years in State Parliament, he won the Federal seat of Paterson in 1969, with a narrow majority, increasing his majority at every subsequent election. At his last in 1983, he had an absolute majority of more than 12,000 votes.
Frank O’Keefe was a key player in the selection of Gunnedah as one of four strategic sites for local government-based abattoirs. He died in 1989.
Although not born in Gunnedah, the late Roger Corfield Anson Wotton was the Country Party (later National Party) member for Burrendong from 1968 to 1971 and from 1973 to 1981, and then for Castlereagh from 1981 to 1991 in the NSW Legislative Assembly.
Born at Ardletan, he married Shirley Crick, whose father was the Lord Mayor of Sydney, and came to the Gunnedah district in 1949, after purchasing the property, Kurrajong, at Mullaley.
Mr Wotton retired in 1991 and they later moved to Gunnedah, where he died in September 2012.
Although he was born in Tamworth, John Cull married a Gunnedah girl, Susan Hughes, and together they ran farming interests in the Curlewis district.
A long-time member of the National Party, Mr Cull was pre-selected as the party’s candidate for the 2001 by-election in the state seat of Tamworth sparked by the move of Tony Windsor into Federal politics. He won the seat by a sizeable margin but faced a new independent challenge in the general election of 2003, in the form of Peter Draper, who won the seat.
Thomas Henry Hall Goodwin replaced John Kirkpatrick as Member for Gunnedah in 1895. Born in Scone in 1848, he owned Booloocooroo and Ruvigne Stations near Gunnedah.
He became one of the Gunnedah’s civic leaders, serving as the first President of the P & H Society when it was formed in 1888. He was also a member of the local Light Horse regiment when it trained in the area.
Thomas Goodwin died in 1920.
Edwin Woodward Turner lived at Digby, Curlewis, and worked as a mining surveyor. He was involved in about six committees during his two years eight months and 26 days as the state representative for Gunnedah after the resignation of Thomas Goodwin. He died at Gunnedah in 1913.
Alderman John Kirkpatrick MLA was a Scottish immigrant who served Gunnedah at Local Government level and ran a successful local butchery co-operative.
A member of the Labor Party, he represented Gunnedah from 1891 to 1895 and died at Gunnedah in 1904.
Although they only had a fleeting conection to Gunnedah, Edward Henry Lloyd and his brother John C. Lloyd both represented the district.
Edward Henry Lloyd, a pastoralist, was born in England in 1825 and came to Australia in 1849, along with his brothers John and Charles. In 1853 Lloyd, in partnership with his brothers, purchased WC Wentworth’s Liverpool Plains interests, comprising ‘Burburgate’, near Gunnedah, and six others.
Edward Lloyd was MLA for Liverpool Plains and Gwydir between 1858 and 1859. From 1863 to 1865 he was a Member of the Legislative Council of NSW. Lloyd died in 1889 and John C. Lloyd was MLA for Liverpool Plains between 1864 and 1869.