Glen Sheil

Glenister Fermoy Sheil (21 October 192929 September 2008 ) was an Australian politician, representing the National Party in the Senate for the state of Queensland from 1974 to 1981, and again from 1984–90. He was an amateur tennis player who competed at the Australian Championships in the 1940s and 1950s.

Early life Sheil was born in Sydney on 21 October 1929. He was the second of five children born to Agnes May (née Browne) and William Glenister Sheil. His father was a civil engineer who worked in several states and was appointed general manager of Queensland's Mount Morgan Mine in 1950. He was the Country Party candidate at the 1967 Capricornia by-election.

Sheil moved frequently during his childhood, attending Silverton Provisional School in Brisbane, Benalla High School in country Victoria, The Hutchins School in Hobart, and The Southport School on the Gold Coast. He went on to study medicine at the University of Queensland, graduating MBBS in 1954.

This was widely described as "the shortest ministerial career in Australia's history". In fact, Sheil was never a minister at all, but he was a member of the Executive Council for two days. He became the only person to be announced in a Ministry who never made it as a minister.

On 6 February 1981 he resigned from the Senate to contest a by-election for the House of Representatives seat of McPherson. He was defeated by Liberal Party candidate Peter White.

Personal life In 1955, Sheil married a fellow doctor, Marjorie Sword. He was widowed in 1989 and remarried in 1991 to Elizabeth Anderson, the daughter of former Country MP Charles Anderson.