Crawford Nalder

Nalder was born in Katanning, a small town in Western Australia's Great Southern region, to Janet (née Painter) and Henry Arthur Nalder.[1] He received his early education from state schools in Colanilling, Ballaying, and Bonnie Doon,[2] but boarded at Wesley College, Perth, for his final two years of schooling. After graduating in 1925, Nalder returned to the country, farming at Wagin. From 1932, he served as a lay preacher in the Methodist Church.[2] In October 1936, whilst travelling on the Perth–Wagin Road with two of his brothers, he received a severe concussion after their truck overturned.[3] During World War II, Nalder enlisted in the Australian Army, serving as a private in the 10th Battalion Volunteer Defence Corps.[4]

A long-time member of the Country Party, Nalder stood for the Legislative Assembly seat of Wagin in the 1947 state elections, and was elected over two other Country Party candidates and one Labor Party candidate.[5] The electoral district of Wagin was abolished in a redistribution prior to the 1950 state elections, and Nalder successfully contested Katanning, which had been vacated following the decision of Arthur Watts, the leader of the party, to move to Stirling. He would hold Katanning until his retirement in 1974, on occasion being re-elected unopposed.[6]

Following Labor's defeat in the 1959 state elections, Nalder was named Minister for Agriculture in the Brand–Watts Ministry, a position he held from 2 April 1959 through to 3 March 1971. From 12 April 1962, he was also Minister for Electricity.[7] Nalder had been elected deputy leader of the Country Party in 1956, replacing Lindsay Thorn, and on Watts' retirement in February 1962, succeeded him as the party's leader (and deputy premier to David Brand). He remained a member of cabinet in the reconstituted Brand–Nalder Ministry until the defeat of the Liberal–Country coalition at the 1971 election, and continued in parliament until the 1974 election.[2]

On 15 June 1974, following his retirement, Nalder was created a Knight Bachelor.[8][9] He eventually retired to Bentley (a suburb of Perth), dying there in December 1994 (aged 84).[10] Nalder's son, Cambell Nalder, served as member for Narrogin from 1986 until his death the following year, and a grandson, Dean Nalder, is the current Liberal Party member for Alfred Cove.[11] A granddaughter, Karen Middleton, is a political correspondent for SBS Television, currently covering federal politics in the Canberra Press Gallery.[12]