12 Facts About Arthur Coles

1.

Arthur Coles served as Lord Mayor of Melbourne from 1938 to 1940.

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2.

In 1946 Arthur Coles was appointed chair of the Australian National Airways Commission, which founded Trans Australia Airlines .

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3.

Arthur Coles was born in Geelong, Victoria and educated at the elite private school The Geelong College.

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4.

When World War I began, Arthur Coles enlisted as a private, fighting at Gallipoli and on the Western Front in France, and was wounded on three occasions before being commissioned as a lieutenant.

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5.

Arthur Coles returned to Australia in 1919 and married Lillian Knight.

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6.

Arthur Coles joined with two brothers and an uncle to open a variety store in Collingwood, a working-class suburb of Melbourne.

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7.

The family opened a series of new Coles Variety Stores around the country, Arthur moving to Sydney in 1928 to open and manage the first one in New South Wales.

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8.

Arthur Coles became Lord Mayor of Melbourne in 1938, remaining in that position until 1940.

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9.

Arthur Coles was one of the two independent parliamentarians who held the balance of power through the early years of the Second World War.

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10.

In 1944, Arthur Coles retired from business and devoted himself to public works, becoming the chair of both the Commonwealth Rationing Commission and the War Damage Commission.

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11.

Arthur Coles was appointed chair of the Melbourne Olympic Games Committee in 1952, and a member of the CSIRO Advisory Council in 1956.

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12.

Arthur Coles died in 1982, leaving three sons and three daughters.

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