David Fairbairn (politician)

Fairbairn was born in Claygate, Surrey. His grandfathers both served in the Parliament of Australia—Sir George Fairbairn served in the House of Representatives seat of Fawkner from 1906–13 and in the Senate from 1917–23, and Edmund Jowett was the federal member for Grampians from 1917 to 1922. His uncle, James Fairbairn, was one of three ministers in the Menzies government who were killed in the 1940 Canberra air disaster.[1]

Fairbairn was educated at Geelong Grammar School and Jesus College, Cambridge. In 1939, he took control of Dunraven, a pastoral property at Woomargama, Riverina, New South Wales.

During World War II, he served in the 21st Light Horse Riverina Regiment from 1939 to 1941 and joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1941. He served both in Britain, where he located the first V-1 flying bomb launching site, and in the New Guinea campaign. In 1945 he was badly wounded and discharged with the rank of Flight Lieutenant.[1] Fairbairn had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1944.

Fairbairn in 1961.

In the 1949 election, Fairbairn was elected to the House of Representatives as the federal member for Farrer. He was appointed Minister for the Air in 1962 in the ninth Menzies Ministry. In 1964, he became Minister for National Development. After the 1969 election, he unsuccessfully challenged Prime Minister John Gorton for the leadership (along with William McMahon), and then resigned from the ministry, saying: "I have given deep thought and consideration to this decision. I have made it reluctantly. My sole concern in coming to it is the future of the Liberal Party, the Government and the Nation." According to Ian Sinclair, he was opposed to Gorton's centralism and in particular, his attempt to claim of sovereignty over Australia's territorial waters and continental shelf for the Commonwealth.[2]

Fairbairn became Minister for Education and Science in March 1971 in the McMahon Ministry and Minister for Defence from August 1971 to the government's defeat in 1972 election. He retired from Parliament at the 1975 election.[1]

From 1977 to 1980, Fairbairn was Australia's Ambassador to the Netherlands.[3][4] Media reported that the posting "deeply perturbed" staff of the Department of Foreign Affairs, which came at a time when the department was being forced to reduce its overseas representation significantly.[5]

Fairbairn died in Woden Valley Hospital in Canberra on 1 June 1994, survived by his wife, Ruth and three daughters.[6][7]

Fairbairn was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross in 1944,[8] and made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1977.[9]