Bob Whan

Whan was born in Wodonga, Victoria. His parents moved to Melbourne where he attended East Kew Central School and Richmond Technical College. He left school at the age of 15 and went with his family to King Island, where he worked in the dairy industry. Whan later moved to Albury, New South Wales, where he worked in a woolstore and gained a wool classing certificate. He later attained a degree in wool technology from the University of New South Wales and completed postgraduate studies at the University of Leeds in England.[2] He worked as a public servant before entering politics, serving as the officer-in-charge of the wool marketing section of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics.[3]

Whan was elected to federal parliament at the 1972 federal election, as the Labor candidate in the Division of Eden-Monaro. He won the seat by a margin of 503 votes, and retained it at the 1974 election by a margin of 146 votes, making it one of the most marginal seats in the country.[4] He lost his seat in Labor's landslide defeat at the 1975 election, although the relatively small swing against him was seen as evidence of his personal following.[5]

Whan won Labor preselection as the Labor candidate in the Division of Canberra at the 1977 election,[6] but following a series of challenges the initial ballot was overturned and he was replaced by Henry Lawrence,[7] who lost to the incumbent Liberal MP John Haslem. He later served as chief of staff to Richard Amery.[2]

After his defeat Whan served as head of the New South Wales Milk Board and executive director of the Australian Council for Overseas Aid. He was also a founder of Jobless Action, a Canberra-based organisation.[2]

Whan died of cardiac arrest on 4 October 2015 at the age of 82.[8] His son, Steve Whan was the member for Monaro in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 2003 to 2011 and a member of the Legislative Council from 2011 to 2015.