Parliamentary Service |
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MLA |
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Labor
Joined Australian Labor Party 1949
Maddington branch |
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20 February 1971 |
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Mirrabooka |
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Electorates
- MLA Mirrabooka, 20 February 1971–30 March 1974 (electorate abolished in redistribution)
- MLA Morley, 30 March 1974–19 February 1983 (electorate abolished in redistribution)
- MLA Morley–Swan, 19 February 1983–18 March 1987 (resigned)
Office
- Opposition spokesman on Labour, Industrial Affairs, Consumer Affairs and Immigration, April 1977–March 1978; on Labour and Industry, and Consumer Affairs March 1978–1980; Urban Development, Town Planning and Tourism 1980–September 1981; on Local Government, Regional Development and Decentralisation, and Consumer Affairs, also Manager of Opposition Business September 1981–February 1983
- Minister for Water Resources, Consumer Affairs (until 23 December 1983), Parliamentary and Electoral Reform and Leader of the House, 25 February 1983–26 February 1986
- Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Water Resources, 25 February 1986–12 May 1986
Committees
- Deputy Chairman of Committees, November 1971–1973
- Member, Public Accounts Committee, 24 May 1973–1974
- Member, Standing Orders Committee, 1977–1980
- Member, Printing Committee, 1971–1974
- Chairman, Select Committee on Parliamentary Committee system, May–September 1973
- Member, Hon Royal Committee inquiring into Hire Purchase and Other Agreements, 1971–August 1972
- Member, Select Committee of Privilege concerning Allegations against a Minister, November 1976
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Tonkin, Arthur Raymond, Inaugural Speech, 1971.pdf |
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1987 |
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Personal Information |
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21 January 1930 |
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Kelmscott, Western Australia |
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5 May 2022 |
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Warwick, Western Australia |
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Ashes collected at Pinnaroo Valley Memorial Park |
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Tonkin, Arthur Raymond, Condolence Motion.pdf |
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Son of Norman Sedrick Tonkin, labourer, and Florence May Cole |
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Married (1) 9 May 1958, Perth to Judith Maxine Driessen, daughter of Jacobus Driessen and Doreen Messenger
Children: two sons and one daughter
Divorced September 1975
Married (2) 25 October 1975, Parliament House Gardens, Perth to Ina Marie Holzman, daughter of Alois Holzman and Erika Wally Doust
No children
Divorced December 1983
Married (3) 31 March 1985, Parliament House Gardens, Perth to Elizabeth Jantje Hazebroek (nee Egberts), daughter of Cornelius Roberts and Adriana Elizabeth Van Den Heuvel
No children
Related to former premier, John Tonkin |
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Christian |
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Educated Gosnells Primary School and Perth Boys School (until 14 years old)
Completed Intermediate Certificate in Melbourne, Victoria
Matriculated after self-taught night study in Perth
University of Western Australia, (full time 1952 otherwise part-time) September 1951–April 1953
Claremont Teachers College—BA (history major) 1958, DipEd 1960
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Teacher |
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Held a variety of jobs between 1945 and 1950—selling newspapers, hardware store (C Bert Hood) employee, wholesale periodical distributor for Gordon and Gotch (before and after going to Melbourne), junior clerk in Department of Lands and Surveys, farmhand at Wongan Hills, trainee fireman at Western Australian Government Railways, labourer at Water Board at Canning Dam, labourer in timber yard (Millars Timber Co) in Melbourne and jam factory employee at South Yarra, 1948–1949
In Perth again as operator in rope works
Orderly, Royal Perth Hospital
Teaching monitor, Kenwick 1951
Teacher, Victoria Park Annexe Kent Street High School, June 1953–December 1953
Teacher, Armadale Junior High School 1954, Armadale High School 1955–1957
Teacher, Bridgetown Junior High School, 1958–1960
Deputy Head, Gnowangerup Junior High School, 1961–1962
Temporary senior master, Governor Stirling Senior High School, 1963
Senior master, Social Studies, Belmont High School, 1964–1965
Senior master, History and Economics John Forrest Senior High School, 1966–1970 |
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Chairman, working party examining future use of groundwater on Perth coastal plain
Member, State School Teachers Union
Coached schoolboy sporting teams in cricket, football, athletics, baseball, softball
Played competition chess including state championships, president Chess Federation of WA for many years from 1988
After leaving Parliament taught history and English on a voluntary basis and also taught chess at Mirrabooka Senior High School which produced six state junior champions
Numerous speaking engagements for Amnesty International, Friends of the ABC and the United Nations Association
Author
- The Example, a novel published by Artlook
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D Black and G Bolton, eds. Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia, Vol. 2, 1930-2010, Western Australian Parliamentary History Project, Perth 2010, p. 257-258.
Metropolitan Cemeteries Board. Accessed 26 May 2022. https://portal.mcb.wa.gov.au/name-search/ns-detail/?id=bcd9a7d3-dddb-ec11-bb3c-002248181c11 |
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Edited transcript of an interview with Hon. Arthur Tonkin
On Tap, Vol. 8 No. 2, April 1983.
West Australian, 23 April 1986, 7 February 1990. |