Bob Katter, Sr.

Robert Cummin Katter (born Cummin Robert Katter; 5 September 191818 March 1990) was an Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1966 to 1990, representing the National Party (originally named the Country Party). He served as Minister for the Army in the McMahon government in 1972. His sons Bob Katter Jr. and Carl Katter as well as grandson Robbie have also been involved in politics.

Early years Katter was born on 5 September 1918 in South Brisbane, Queensland, the fourth child of Vivian Bridget (née Warby) and Carlyle Assad Khittar, later Carl Robert Katter. His father was a Maronite Catholic born in Bcharre, Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate, although "Assyria" is what Katter stated in his naturalisation documents and his mother was Australian born to parents also from Mount Lebanon. He has been described as a cousin of the Lebanese-American poet Khalil Gibran. His father was one of the two-dozen original investors in the airline Qantas. He was raised and educated "probably by the nuns" in Cloncurry and later at Mount Carmel College in Charters Towers. He began legal studies at the University of Queensland and resided at St Leo's College (when the college was at Wickham Terrace).

With the outbreak of World War II, he served in the Australian Army as a lieutenant from 1940 and was promoted to captain in 1942. In July 1942, his service was terminated on grounds of ill health. Later he was proprietor of the local drapery business, menswear store and picture theatre in Cloncurry, Queensland. One of his first actions in taking over the cinema was to remove the steel railings which separated the Aboriginal patrons from other cinema-goers,

Katter married his first wife, Mabel Horn, in 1944, and they were married until she died in 1971. Bob Jr, Norman and Geraldine are his children from his first marriage. Katter remarried in 1976 to Joycelyn Steel. Carl, Richard and Bernadette are his children from his second marriage.

Political career

Katter was at one time a member of the Australian Labor Party and a union delegate on the Brisbane wharves and had a long history of active unionism prior to his entry into public life.

A 1969 redistribution cut out Labor-voting Bowen, replacing it with conservative-leaning Charters Towers. This allowed him to consolidate his hold on the seat, and he became the first non-Labor candidate in four decades to win a primary vote majority in Kennedy. He would not face another serious contest again until 1987, the first time since his initial run for the seat that he failed to win enough primary votes to retain the seat outright. He retired in 1990.

He was Minister for the Army from February 1972 to the McMahon government's defeat at the December 1972 election.

He chose not to contest the 24 March 1990 election, and he retired when the Parliament was dissolved on 19 February. He died a month later, a week before the election. He was survived by his second wife, two sons and a daughter from his first marriage, and two sons and a daughter from his second marriage. Indeed, he retained elements of 1950s Labor policies in his platform, including opposition to neoliberalism.

Notable descendants Several of his descendants have carried on his legacy and entered into Australian politics.

Robert Carl "Bob" Katter Jr, son of Bob Katter Sr, is the current federal member for Kennedy and leader of Katter's Australian Party. Carl Katter, son of Bob Katter Sr, 2016 Australian Labor Party candidate for the federal seat of Higgins in Victoria. Robbie Katter, grandson of Bob Katter Sr and son of Bob Katter Jr, became the first member of Katter's Australian Party elected to the Queensland State Parliament.