MP Biographical Register

Colin Jamieson

House

MLA

Party

Labor Joined party 1946 Secretary Midland branch 1947 Secretary/organiser Labour Day Committee Midland District Council 1947–1948 and delegate to Council from Midland Railway Employees Union 1947–1948 and from Carpenters and Joiners Union 1949–1952 Delegate to State Executive from Midland District Council 1949–1952 and to Metropolitan Council 1951–1956 Trustee State Branch 1955–1956 vice-president 1957–1958 president 1959–1976 (18 terms—longest ever period of service) presented with life membership at 1978 State Conference Member State Executive Management Committee 1979–1980 Senior vice-president State Executive until 1981 Delegate to all National Conferences from 1957 except 1975 and 1982 Delegate to National Executive 1971 and 1979 plus several times on casual basis President Swan Electorate Council 1985

Date first elected

14 February 1953

Year Retired/Resigned

1986

Electorate(s)

Canning

Inaugural Speech

Valedictory Video

Parliamentary Service

Service

Electorates

MLA Canning, 14 February 1953–7 April 1956, Beeloo, 7 April 1956–23 March 1968 (electorate abolished in redistribution)
MLA Belmont, 23 March 1968–30 March 1974 (electorate abolished in redistribution)
MLA Welshpool, 30 March 1974–8 February 1986

Office,

Minister for Works, Water Supplies, Electricity (until 12 October 1971), Traffic Safety (from 6 July 1972), 3 March 1971–8 April 1974
Deputy Leader of the Opposition, 1974–1976
Leader of the Opposition, 16 April 1976–21 February 1978
Opposition Spokesman on Public Works, Water Supplies and Housing, 1974–April 1976; on Treasury, Regional Administration and the North West, April 1976–February 1978; Works, Water Supplies, Mines and the North West March 1978–1980; on Works, Chief Secretary and Recreation, 1980–September 1981

Committees

Deputy Chairman of Committees, 1981–1983
Member, Joint House Committee, 1959–1974, 1978–1983
Member, Standing Orders Committee, 1982–1986
Member, Committee of Parliament for 150th Anniversary of first meeting of Legislative Council, 1981–1982
Member, Parliamentary History Advisory Committee, 1984–1989
Member, Select Committee inquiring into the Criminal Code Act Amendment Bill, 1973
Member, Hon Royal Commission inquiring into Matters Relating to Homosexuality, 1973–1974
Member, Select Committee inquiring into the Liquor Laws of WA, 1983–1984
Member, Select Committee on Office of Profit of MPs and Members’ Contracts with the Crown, 28 October 1981–3 November 1982
Member, Select Committee on the Grape (Wine) Growing Industry of WA, 13 March–26 November 1985

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association

Represented WA branch Commonwealth Parliamentary Association at 16th Australasian and Pacific Regional Conference, Raratonga Cook Island, 1981, and at 17th Conference Hobart, Tasmania 1983

Historical Notes

Delegate from WA Parliament to five Constitutional Conventions: 1973, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1983
Leader of party of six WA MPs visiting China, June 1982
Father of the House, 1977–1986

Personal Information

Death date

27 March 1990

Place of death

St John of God Hospital, Subiaco, Western Australia

Cemetery

Memorialised at Pinnaroo Valley Memorial Park, Western Australia. Banksia Park.

Occupation

Carpenter and joiner

Employment History

Left school at age of fifteen, worked in vineyards
Junior worker, body building firm, 1938–1939
Assistant fruit and produce merchant, 1939–1942
Enlisted Australian Imperial Force 30 July 1942, served in 121 Australian Reserve Motor Transport Company—Corporal, discharged 11 July 1944 Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force 12 July 1944 as radar mechanic—Leading Aircraftman
Discharged 26 April 1946
Labourer and storeman, Midland Railway 1946–1948, then trainee carpenter and joiner, 1949–1953

Principal Honours

Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) awarded 26 January 1988 for service to the Western Australian Parliament and to the community

Background/Membership

Member, Building Workers Industrial Union
Visited Rumania and USSR representing Whitlam Government, 1974 and Czechoslovakia and Hungary representing Australian–Czechoslovakia Friendship Society, June–July 1985
Chairman, Metropolitan Cemeteries Board and Fremantle Cemeteries Board
Played amateur football with Midland Amateur Football Club, 1946–1948; secretary, 1947
Secretary, Bayswater Amateur Football Club, 1949–1952; president, 1953–1970; life member from 1956
Member, WA Amateur Football League Executive Committee from 1947; vice-president, 1968–1970, president, 1971–1983; life member from 1958
Member, executive Amateur Football Council of Australia 1956–1985, presented with Certificate of Merit from National Football League, 1971
Member, Bayswater Tennis Club, 1951–1981
Member, Belmont Tennis Club, vice president, 1984–1986
Member, several horticultural societies and had success exhibiting roses, dahlias and chrysanthemums

References

D Black and G Bolton, eds, Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia: volume two 1930-2010, Western Australian Parliamentary History Project, Perth, WA, 2011, p. 133-134.
Metropolitan Cemeteries Board website. Accessed online 5 July 2022. https://portal.mcb.wa.gov.au/name-search/ns-detail/?id=c2763082-df1c-ec11-b6e7-00224814cbaf

Further Information

Harry C. J. Phillips, 'Jamieson, Colin John (1923–1990)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/jamieson-colin-john-12693/text22881, published first in hardcopy 2007, accessed online 16 June 2022.

Members’ biographical register

Colin Jamieson

Parliamentary Service

Personal Information