Charles Court

Sir Charles Court AK, KCMG, OBE
21st Premier of Western Australia
In office April 8, 1974 – January 25, 1982
Preceded by	John Tonkin
Succeeded by	Ray O'Connor
Constituency	Nedlands
Personal details
Born	(1911-09-29)September 29, 1911 Crawley, Sussex, England, UK
Died	December 22, 2007(2007-12-22) (aged 96) Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia

Sir Charles Walter Michael Court, AK, KCMG, OBE, (September 29, 1911 – December 22, 2007) was a Western Australian politician, representing the Assembly seat of Nedlands for the Liberal Party from 1953 to 1982, and was the state's twenty-first premier, from April 8, 1974 to January 25, 1982.

Early life

Court's family emigrated from his birthplace Crawley, Sussex, England, to Perth when he was 6 months old. He went to Perth Boys School (Hale School). His Salvation Army parents induced him to play the cornet in their Sunday parades and he became a proficient player. He began formal music training at 12 and became a member of the RSL Memorial Band. He also inherited a strong union background and joined the Musicians Union at the age of 14, playing in annual May Day parades. In 1930 he competed in the national band competition held in Tanunda and won the brass solo competition, the “Champion of Champions”. In 1927 he was articled to a firm of auditors and eventually qualified as an accountant and went into his own practice in 1933.

Charles Court enlisted in the AMF in September 1940. He was soon given a commission and sent to the officers' training school in Geelong. In January 1942 he transferred to the Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF). He joined the First Armoured Division, becoming Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General (DAQMG) and was promoted to captain. He was redeployed to the Northern Territory in 1943 for a brief period. After further training he was posted to New Guinea in early 1945 as a major, receiving an acting promotion to lieutenant colonel. Most of his service was on Bougainville Island as AQMG with the Second Australian Army Corps, serving under Lt. General Stanley Savige. He was awarded an OBE for his service between April and September 1945, in maintaining and co-ordinating communication and supply lines in the outer islands. See generally Bougainville campaign (1944-45).

Political career

His anti-communist leanings led him to join the Liberal Party in 1946 (then called the Liberal Country League in Western Australia). In 1953 he stood as one of two co-endorsed LCL candidates in the Perth metropolitan seat of Nedlands. After distribution of preferences, he received 54% of the valid votes. He became a member of the opposition until the Liberal Party was elected into government at the 1959 state elections.

Sir David Brand's 12-year government was overthrown at the 1971 election. In May 1972, Brand retired as opposition leader for health reasons and was replaced in that position by Charles Court. In 1974, the Liberal-Country Party coalition won power back from John Tonkin's Labor government and Court became premier.

Court's eight-year term essentially continued the industrial development initiatives of the Brand and Tonkin governments and, in particular, strongly promoted iron-ore mining in the Pilbara region and gas exploration and development in the North-West shelf. Court was a staunch opponent of Aboriginal land rights, playing a central role in the infamous Noonkanbah land rights dispute, which marked a new low in relations between the government and Aboriginal people. The mining boom had led to hundreds of resource tenements being pegged on the Yungngora people's Noonkanbah pastoral station in the Kimberley, but an anthropological report found the whole area had spiritual significance for the community. Court was adamant that the exploration should go ahead regardless - and a convoy of 45 drilling rigs and trucks left Perth under police protection on August 7 1980. Violent confrontations between police and Noonkanbah protesters ensued, culminating in the drilling rigs forcing their way through community picket lines onto sacred land.

Court was renowned for his anti-centralist views, being a staunch defender of states' rights against encroaching federal government powers, and also for his support of the Australian flag and the Australian Monarchy. He was vehemently opposed to unions, amending Section 54B of the Police Act which prevented gatherings of more than three people in public without police permissions in a deliberate attempt to stop illegal union meetings.

In 1976 Court controversially attempted to close the Tresillian Centre for mentally ill children in his blue-ribbon electorate of Nedlands, after complaints from neighbours. The affair prompted a public outcry, led to the resignation of Parliamentary secretary Ray Young, and Court eventually backed down. However, the children were ultimately forced to move to Forrestfied and the centre was sold to the Nedlands Council.

Also the cause of some controversy was Court's decision to close the Perth to Fremantle rail line in 1980. The stated rationale for this decision was that buses would do the job better as they were cheaper and more flexible, although it soon emerged that the government intended to build a freeway down part of the rail reserve. An opposition group, 'Friends of the Railways' ran a campaign against this measure, which was credited by some as being pivotal in causing of the government’s downfall, and the subsequent reinstatement of the rail service by the new State government in 1983.

Court was premier during the 150th Anniversary of the state celebrations in 1979 - commonly known as WAY 1979 - and his foreword appears in each of the 14 volumes of the Sesquicentennial Series books.

In 1982, he resigned from the Western Australian parliament and was succeeded as premier by Ray O'Connor.

Retirement

On October 5, 2006, Sir Charles celebrated turning 95 years old six days earlier. Prime Minister John Howard was at the celebration at the Perth Convention Centre, amongst several hundred other guests.

Mr Howard said:

If you think back over the last 50 years, no figure in public life has done more to promote resource development in this state and therefore Australia than Sir Charles Court. The contribution, through that energy, that he has made to the contemporary wealth of Australia has been enormous.

On Monday 16 April 2007, at the age of 95, Sir Charles suffered a minor stroke. His son Richard Court advised several days later that he was recovering but was suffering from some speech difficulties and it was at that stage unclear whether any permanent damage had resulted. He died on 22 December 2007 at his Nedlands home. He was one of the last four living Knights of the Order of Australia.

Family

His wife Rita Steffanoni was born on 15 June 1911 and they were married on 3 June 1936. They had five sons: Victor born 13 November 1938, Barrymore ("Barry") born 23 March 1941, Kenneth ("Ken") born 11 December 1943, Richard born 27 September 1947 and Geoffrey born 29 May 1949.

After winning his father's Nedlands constituency in 1982, Richard Court became the state's thirtieth Premier from 1993 to 2001. Barry Court, a well known local businessman, is married to former Australian tennis champion, Margaret Court.

Honours

He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1947. He was made a knight bachelor in 1972, a Knight of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1979, and a Knight of the Order of Australia (AK) in 1982.

References

• Charles Court, Charles Court the early years (Fremantle Arts Centre press, Fremantle 1995). An edited autobiography based on revised transcripts of conversations over five years in the late 1980s.