George Ronald Cole

George Ronald Cole (9 February 1908 – 23 January 1969) was an Australian politician who served as a Senator for Tasmania from 1950 to 1965. He was initially elected to parliament as a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He joined the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist) after the party split of 1955, which became the Democratic Labor Party (DLP). He served as the DLP's parliamentary leader until losing his seat at the 1964 election.

Early life Cole was born on 9 February 1908 in Don, Tasmania, one of five children born to Alice (née Rutter) and George Cole. He was educated at Devonport High School and later studied at the University of Tasmania and Hobart Teachers' College. He was raised in his mother's Methodist faith but later converted to Catholicism.

Cole played for the New Town Football Club in the Tasmanian Australian National Football League as a centreman. He won the Wilson Bailey Medal as the league's best and fairest player in 1928 and represented Tasmania at the 1930 National Carnival. His football earnings helped his family survive the Great Depression.

In 1932, Cole was appointed head teacher at Upper Mountain River, a rural locality. In the same year, he married Kathleen Cuttriss. He was an assistant teacher at West Devonport from 1938 until 1941, when he was called up to the Australian Army; he had previously been a member of the Citizen Military Forces. Cole served as an instructor in the north of Australia with the 30th Australian Infantry Training Battalion. He was discharged in 1944 and returned to teaching. He served as headmaster of primary schools in Strahan, Longford, and Latrobe. He remained the DLP's parliamentary leader until his term expired in June 1965, and campaigned for the party in that capacity at the May 1965 New South Wales state election.

Later life Cole remained state president of the DLP in Tasmania until June 1968. He died of chronic kidney disease on 23 January 1969, aged 60.