Cleaver Bunton

Cleaver Ernest Bunton (5 May 190220 January 1999) was an Australian independent politician who served as the mayor of Albury for three non-consecutive terms between 1945 and 1976. He was first elected to Albury City Council in 1925 and was an aldermen for 45 years.

Bunton came to national prominence in 1975 when he was controversially appointed to the Senate by New South Wales premier Tom Lewis, a member of the Liberal Party, to fill a position vacated by a Labor Party member.

Early life Born in Albury, Bunton left school at 13 and initially worked as a clerk in a solicitor's office before becoming an accountant. He was also involved in Albury sporting and community affairs, playing Australian rules football with the Albury Football Club, becoming captain-coach and club secretary at 17. His younger brother Haydn Bunton went on to become a notable Australian rules footballer.

Bunton married Eileen O'Malley in 1930. In 1930, he was elected president of the Ovens and Murray Football League (a position he held until 1969). He also held administrative roles in the Victorian Country Football League, Facing a hostile Labor Party (and a sometimes hostile electorate), Bunton surprised many observers by acting independently rather than as a Liberal appointee, and resisted urgings from the Malcolm Fraser-led Opposition to block the supply bills of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's government, instead supporting Labor on the supply bills during the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis.

Bunton chose not to contest the ensuing election. The controversy surrounding his appointment, as well as that of Albert Field, prompted an amendment to the Constitution, requiring that casual Senate vacancies be filled by a member of the same party. and an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1975. He also received an honorary degree from Charles Sturt University. He was made a member of the Ovens & Murray Football League Hall Of Fame, and had a football oval (Bunton Park) and street in North Albury named after him. A ward in the Albury Base Hospital named in his honour, as was a variety of chrysanthemum.

In recognition of his years of service to his home city, Bunton was occasionally known by the sobriquet "Mr Albury".