Don Devitt

Donald Michael Devitt (11 July 1921 – 10 July 2008) was an Australian politician. He served as a Senator for Tasmania from 1965 to 1978, representing the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

Early life Devitt was born on 11 July 1921 in Launceston, Tasmania. He was the son of Irish Catholic parents Kathleen Mary (née Maloney) and William Francis Devitt; his father was a police inspector. He was said to be a great-grandson of Irish nationalist Michael Davitt.

Devitt was raised in Smithton and attended the local state school, leaving in 1937.

After the war's end, Devitt worked in local government as a clerk, spending periods in Queenstown, Scottsdale and Beaconsfield and holding various offices including clerk of petty sessions, registrar of the court of requests and registrar of the court of general sessions. In 1956 he settled on a dairy farm at Trowutta. He announced he would not recontest his seat in June 1976 and retired at the expiry of his term on 30 June 1978.

In the Senate, Devitt spoke regularly on local government and was interested in the development of Canberra. In 1969 he secured a select committee inquiry into the operations of the Canberra abattoir. In 1978 he became the first sitting senator to visit Macquarie Island and the Australian Antarctic Territory.

Personal life In 1947 Devitt married Dorothy Malley, with whom he had two children. After retiring from politics he worked in real estate for a period and took up yachting, silversmithing and lapidary as hobbies. He died on 10 July 2008 in Burnie, Tasmania.