Neil O'Sullivan

O'Sullivan was born in the Brisbane suburb of Toowong, the son of Patrick Alban O'Sullivan and his wife Mary Bridget (née Macgroarty).[1] He was educated at Taringa State School and St. Joseph's Nudgee College and was admitted as a solicitor in December 1922. He was president of the Brisbane Chamber of Commerce from 1936 to 1937 and the Property Owners' Protection Association from 1937 to 1938. He served in the Royal Australian Air Force from May 1942 to December 1944, performing intelligence and administration in Australia and the South-West Pacific.[2]

O'Sullivan c. 1947

O'Sullivan came from a political family. His grandfather Patrick O'Sullivan was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, and so were his uncles Thomas O'Sullivan and Neil MacGroarty.[2]

O'Sullivan contested unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives seat of Brisbane in 1934 and the Legislative Assembly of Queensland seat of Windsor in 1941.

O'Sullivan won a seat in the Senate for the Liberal Party of Australia in the 1946 election and was one of only three non-Labor members in the Senate. Following the 1949 election, he became leader of the government in the Senate and he was appointed Minister for Trade and Customs in the Menzies government. He was appointed Minister for the Navy in January 1956. In August 1956, he was appointed Attorney-General following the resignation of John Spicer and in October 1956, he was appointed Vice-President of the Executive Council following the resignation of Eric Harrison, but he retired from the ministry in 1958. He did not stand for re-election at the 1961 election.[2] After leaving politics he became a director of LJ Hooker.[3]

In April 1929, he married Jessie Margaret Mary McEncroe. He was made Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1959.[2]

O'Sullivan died unexpectedly of a coronary occlusion while visiting Sydney in 1968.[3] He was survived by his wife and two sons. He was accorded a state funeral and was buried in Nudgee Cemetery.[2]