George Petersen (Australian politician)
| George Petersen | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of the New South Wales Parliament for Kembla |
|
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In office 24 February 1968 – 13 January 1971 |
|
| Preceded by | New district |
| Succeeded by | District abolished |
| Member of the New South Wales Parliament for Illawarra |
|
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In office 13 February 1971 – 22 February 1988 |
|
| Preceded by | New district |
| Succeeded by | Terry Rumble |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
13 May 1921 Childers, Queensland, Australia |
| Died | 28 March 2000 (aged 78) Shellharbour, New South Wales, Australia |
| Awards |
 Pacific Star
|
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 Australia
|
| Service/branch |
Australian Army
|
| Years of service | 1942 – 1946 |
| Rank | Signalman |
| Unit | 2/5th Commando Squadron |
| Battles/wars | |
Wilfred George Petersen (13 May 1921 – 28 March 2000) was an Australian politician, affiliated with the Australian Labor Party and elected as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.
Petersen was born in Childers, Queensland, the son of George and Eva Petersen and was descended from Scandinavian migrants who came to Queensland in the 1800s. He was educated at Bundaberg State High School, but owing to hard financial times left at age 15. Petersen found work as a telephonist for the Postmaster-General's Department and as a pensions officer and special magistrate for the Department of Social Services from 1937 to 1968.
In World War II he served in Queensland and Borneo as a Signalman in the 2/5th Commando Squadron from 1942 to 1946. In 1947 he married his first wife, Elaine Verna Tout, and had a daughter in 1953 and then a son in 1956. Later, they divorced and he married Mairi Isobel Wilson Gould in 1975. They had one daughter.
In 1943 Petersen joined the Communist Party of Australia. He left in 1956 after Khrushchev's Secret Speech, which denounced Stalin. Transferred to a job with the Department of Social Security in Wollongong, New South Wales, in 1957, he soon joined the Australian Labor Party. Becoming a prominent local member of the party, Petersen was encouraged to run for politics by the local Federal Member for Cunningham, Rex Connor. Consequently, Petersen was preselected as the labour candidate for and was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Kembla in 1968. He represented this electorate until the 1971 election, when he moved to the seat of Illawarra.
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