Athol Townley

Athol Gordon Townley (3 October 190524 December 1963) was an Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1949 until his death in 1963. A member of the Liberal Party, he served as a minister in the Menzies Government from 1951 to 1963, notably as Minister for Defence from 1958.

Early life Townley was born on 3 October 1905 in Hobart, Tasmania. He was the fourth child born to Susan (née Bickford) and Reginald George Townley. His older brother Rex was a member of the Tasmanian parliament.

Townley's father died in 1906 and the family subsequently moved in with his mother's sister Rebecca Sidwell. He attended Elizabeth Street State School, Hobart High School and Hobart Technical College. He qualified as a pharmaceutical chemist in 1928, serving an apprenticeship with Ash, Sidwell & Co., his uncle's firm. Townley and his brother Rex moved to Sydney during the Great Depression, where he found in the quality control department of industrial baker Gartrell White Ltd. The brothers later moved back to Hobart and went into partnership as chemists under the name Sidwell & Townley. They owned three pharmacies, with the largest situated opposite the General Post Office, Hobart. He was put in command of the Fairmile B motor launch ML817 in January 1943, promoted to acting lieutenant commander in March and was involved in the New Guinea campaign.

Townley became Minister for Defence in December 1958. On 24 May 1962 he announced that Australia would be sending thirty army advisers to South Vietnam, committing Australia to the Vietnam War. He suffered ill health during the 1960s, including a heart attack and bouts of pneumonia. Nevertheless, he travelled to Washington in October 1963 to sign a contract for the purchase of the F-111 aircraft—this contract was later severely criticised due to the sharply increased prices subsequently experienced.

Death Townley left the ministry after the 1963 election, and on 17 December it was announced that he would succeed Howard Beale as Australian Ambassador to the United States. However, on 13 December he had collapsed in his Melbourne office and been taken to the Mercy Hospital in East Melbourne. In the preceding year he had suffered a heart ailment and pneumonia. Townley died on Christmas Eve 1963, aged 58. His state funeral in Hobart was attended by Governor-General Lord De L'Isle, Governor of Tasmania Charles Gairdner, Prime Minister Robert Menzies, and Premier of Tasmania Eric Reece, as well as many other dignitaries.

Personal life In 1931, Townley married Hazel Greenwood, with whom he had one son. He was a member of the Baptist Church and played for the North Hobart Football Club and the New Town Cricket Club.