1. Charles Court held multiple portfolios during this time, including as the minister for industrial development from 1959 to 1971, when he became known for developing Western Australia's mining industry.
154 Facts About Charles Court
1. 2.
Charles Court grew up in a working-class family in Leederville and Shenton Park.
3.
Charles Court soon married and moved to Nedlands, where he lived most of his life.
4.
Charles Court joined the Liberal Party in 1946 and was elected to parliament at the 1953 state election.
5.
Charles Court became deputy leader of the Liberal Party in 1957 and a minister after the party won the 1959 state election, serving under Premier David Brand.
6.
Charles Court lost his portfolios when the Liberal Party lost the 1971 state election.
7.
Charles Court became premier and treasurer upon the party's victory in the 1974 state election.
8.
Charles Court supported the arts by having the government purchase His Majesty's Theatre and initiating the Perth Cultural Centre.
9.
Charles Court was succeeded as the member for Nedlands by his son, Richard Court, who was premier himself from 1993 to 2001.
10.
Charles Court was born on 29 September 1911 in Crawley, Sussex, England.
11.
Charles Court was the eldest of two sons of Rose Rebecca Rice and Walter James Court, a plumber.
12.
The name Charles Court came from his mother's brother, Walter from his father, and Michael because he was born on Michaelmas Day.
13.
The Charles Court family left Crawley on 18 March 1912, bound for Western Australia.
14.
The Charles Court family spent their first eight years in Western Australia living in Leederville, just north of Perth.
15.
Walter Charles Court eventually obtained a job digging sewerage and drainage trenches, where he formed a good enough impression that he was referred to a plumber who offered him a job.
16.
One time, when Walter's pay stopped coming through, Charles Court was sent down to the Perth Trades Hall to give a note to the union secretary.
17.
Charles Court found irregular work for plumbers HRance and Son.
18.
Charles Court admired Labor premier Philip Collier and took Charles to union rallies.
19.
In 1921, the Charles Court family purchased and moved into a house in West Subiaco, using a War Service Homes Scheme loan.
20.
In West Subiaco, Charles Court attended Rosalie Primary School, and from 1924 to 1926, he attended Perth Boys School.
21.
Meanwhile, in 1919, Charles Court started learning to play the cornet and he soon joined a succession of local bands.
22.
Charles Court later joined the RSL band, which consisted of ex-servicemen.
23.
Charles Court joined the Young Australia League band and the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the latter of which got Court his first job.
24.
Charles Court was instead articled to one of the law firm's auditors, JF Burkett and Co, later Burkett and McLaren.
25.
Charles Court soon became a junior audit clerk, and then began studying an accountancy correspondence course at a technical school.
26.
Charles Court turned 21 in 1932, so the first election he voted in was the state election in April 1933.
27.
Charles Court passed his final exams for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in March 1933 and the Chartered Institute of Secretaries the following year.
28.
Charles Court then became a senior clerk, earning three pounds per week.
29.
Charles Court felt he was underpaid by a pound though, so after negotiations failed, he quit, believing he could earn as much playing the trumpet and start his own accountancy firm meanwhile.
30.
Over time, Burkett and Charles Court became profitable and hired new staff, and after two years, was able to pay back Hearn.
31.
Charles Court met his future wife Rita Steffanoni as he was asked by a family friend to play music at her 21st birthday party.
32.
Later that year, Charles Court was approached by two other accountants to join them in partnership.
33.
Charles Court joined the Australian Army in 1940 and returned to accounting in January 1946.
34.
In 1944, Charles Court was made a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants; from 1946 to 1952, he was the institute's state registrar; from 1952 to 1955, he was on the state council; became a life member in 1982; and was voted chartered accountant of the year in 1984.
35.
Charles Court was elected by ratepayers to be the auditor for the Municipality of Claremont and was the chairman of the WA Prices Advisory Committee from 1948 to 1952.
36.
Charles Court was chosen for that role as he had performed well for the Master Bakers' Association before the war.
37.
Charles Court volunteered to join the Second Australian Imperial Force in January 1940, but was rejected due to manpower restrictions as he was an accountant.
38.
Charles Court then got written consent from Hendry, Rae, and some clients, and enlisted in the Australian Military Force.
39.
Charles Court was allowed to join the AMF as its members did not serve outside Australia, but its members were allowed to join the AIF after three months.
40.
Not wanting to end up in an army band, Charles Court asked to join an AMF corps without one, which meant he enrolled in the Army Service Corps as a private on 5 September 1940.
41.
Charles Court was promoted to a permanent lieutenant in July 1941.
42.
Charles Court's commanding officer, Major Ennis, soon told him to form and lead a band, but not wanting to be involved with a band, Charles Court struck a deal that he would form a really good band before being allowed to leave it to concentrate on being a soldier.
43.
Charles Court recruited experienced musicians who were about to join the army and people who he had played with in previous bands.
44.
Charles Court's commanding officer, Horace Robertson, asked that Court form a band, but Court managed to reach another deal where he would form the best band in the Australian Army before returning to being a soldier.
45.
Charles Court went to a staff course at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, and the division was transferred to Mingenew, Western Australia.
46.
Charles Court was promoted to temporary major in August 1943 when he was made deputy assistant quartermaster-general, and later became a permanent major.
47.
Charles Court then moved to the Northern Territory in October 1943, with efforts to prepare for a possible Japanese invasion in the wake of the bombing of Darwin.
48.
Charles Court was asked to assess whether the region could cope with large numbers of US and Australian troops if General Douglas MacArthur chose to launch an invasion from Darwin to win back the Philippines.
49.
Charles Court determined that it could, and the report was presented to an audience including General Thomas Blamey.
50.
Charles Court's commanding officer, Arthur Allen, praised the report but Blamey said launching from the Northern Territory would be the worst option as it would be slow and cost many lives and much money.
51.
In November 1944, Charles Court was sent to the staff college in Cabarlah, Queensland, for more training.
52.
On 3 April 1945, Charles Court was sent to Bougainville Island in the territory of New Guinea, where Australian troops had taken over from American troops.
53.
Charles Court got off to a rocky start as his commanding officer, Stanley Savige, initially did not like him.
54.
Savige did not trust Horace Robertson, so when Robertson told Savige that Charles Court was "a first-class and outstanding officer", Savige believed the opposite.
55.
General Allen wrote to Savige that Charles Court would do well, which helped to peruade Savige to let Charles Court stay.
56.
Charles Court went on some of the supply drops himself so that he "let the RAAF and Army crews know I was interested in their work and conscious of the danger and responsibility that was theirs when undertaking these missions".
57.
Charles Court would carry messages from Savige to commanders on the battlefront.
58.
Charles Court was tasked with leading a team to sever Japanese communications between the north and south of the island, but that mission was called off when intelligence officers determined the mission could not go ahead.
59.
Charles Court was a member of the Australian Surrender Commission when the Japanese formally surrendered at Bougainville on 8 September 1945.
60.
Charles Court chose 70 soldiers and intelligence personnel to disarm the 23,500 Japanese soldiers and sailors.
61.
Masatane Kanda and Charles Court were concerned that "fanatics" might try to shoot at the Australians, but no such thing happened.
62.
Charles Court later said the OBE meant more to him than any other honour he had received as it had proved he had succeeded as a soldier.
63.
Charles Court arrived back in Perth in December 1945 and was demobilised on 3 January, becoming a reserve officer.
64.
Charles Court accepted an invitation from Harry Hearn to join the Liberal Party and form the Perth City Branch in 1946.
65.
Charles Court helped the party during the 1947 state election campaign by convincing people to stand as candidates for the Liberal Party and helping them campaign.
66.
Charles Court was asked to stand as a candidate by a deputation of a dozen businessmen, including Lance Brisbane, Harry Hearn, and Fred Johnston, but declined.
67.
Charles Court told them that there were other, more suitable candidates, but they told him he was the most popular in Shenton Park, the most Labor-leaning part of the electorate of Nedlands.
68.
Charles Court was reluctant to stand as a candidate, as his business career would be put on hold, but he eventually agreed, promising to leave politics after two terms, or six years, in parliament.
69.
Grayden refused the nomination and Charles Court threatened to step down, but was convinced not to.
70.
Charles Court would later say the campaign was a "nightmare", as people were confused why the Liberal Party endorsed two candidates.
71.
Grayden's election materials said that he would make service to his electorate "his full-time duty", implying that Charles Court would remain involved with his business.
72.
Charles Court ended up winning by 837 out of 8777 votes on a two-party-preferred basis.
73.
Charles Court was the only new Liberal member elected, and the Liberal Party ended up losing the overall election to the Labor Party.
74.
Bert Hawke was sworn in as Premier and Charles Court found himself in the opposition.
75.
Charles Court was the only opposition member who campaigned in the by-election as the seat was previously uncontested by any other party and it was believed to be a safe seat for Labor.
76.
John Rhatigan of the Labor Party ended up winning and Charles Court gained experience in a part of the state he had not been to previously.
77.
The north of Western Australia was isolated and undeveloped and Charles Court saw that it needed to be developed.
78.
Charles Court easily won re-election, receiving 73 percent of the vote, but the LCL overall went backwards, losing four seats.
79.
McLarty resigned as LCL leader in 1957, suffering from ill health, allowing for Brand to be elected leader and Charles Court to be elected deputy leader in March that year.
80.
Charles Court believed McLarty was a poor leader, but with Brand instead, Charles Court could move forward with his push to develop the northern parts of the state.
81.
Interested in developing the northern areas of Western Australia, Charles Court set up and was chair of the North West and Kimberleys Committee, which developed LCL policy to take to the 1959 state election.
82.
Charles Court presented the policy to the party's State Council for adoption.
83.
Charles Court disputed the minutes at the next council meeting, and so the policy was adopted.
84.
Charles Court was re-elected unopposed in Nedlands, so he could focus on campaigning in the rest of the state, especially in the north.
85.
Charles Court was appointed as the minister for industrial development, minister for railways, and minister for the North-West.
86.
The railway system was run down at the time and there would inevitably be closures of some lines, so Charles Court believed that no Country MP wanted to do this.
87.
That never happened, so Charles Court continued as the minister for railways for eight years.
88.
From 16 March 1965, Charles Court took over as the minister for transport from James Craig.
89.
Charles Court had Ray O'Connor appointed as an honorary minister assisting the minister for railways and transport.
90.
David Brand lost the 1971 state election, and so Charles Court was removed from the ministry.
91.
Charles Court was highly critical of the royal commission, and had it finished soon after he became the minister for railways.
92.
In July 1959, Charles Court appointed former Tasmanian Government Railways general manager Cyril Wayne as the new commissioner of the WAGR.
93.
Charles Court found that the WAGR system was run down and poorly maintained.
94.
Charles Court had running sheds in country towns replaced or upgraded and old and low-capacity wagons scrapped.
95.
Charles Court outsourced work being done at the Midland Railway Workshops and reduced the number of employees at the workshop by about 25 percent.
96.
Wayne wanted the existing narrow-gauge railways upgraded instead, but Charles Court chose to build a whole new standard-gauge railway between Kalgoorlie and Fremantle and Kwinana, which would link to the existing standard-gauge Trans-Australian Railway at Kalgoorlie and provide a rail link to the eastern states via a single gauge for the first time.
97.
Charles Court had to negotiate with the federal government for funding the gauge standardisation project, which was too expensive for the state to handle.
98.
Charles Court negotiated with the Commonwealth government in 1963 for several variations to the agreement, including the route through the Avon Valley, through the Perth metropolitan area, and near Koolyanobbing.
99.
The standard-gauge railway was completed in August 1968, a year after Charles Court ceased being the minister for railways.
100.
Charles Court was elected unopposed as party leader and thus leader of the opposition; Des O'Neil was elected deputy leader.
101.
The day after the leadership ballot, Charles Court was knighted "in recognition of service to the government of WA".
102.
Charles Court attempted this in mid-September 1972, following the government's decision to provide a guarantee for a private loan for the construction of a new trades hall building.
103.
Charles Court was sworn in as premier, treasurer, and minister coordinating economic and regional development.
104.
From 18 June 1975 to 22 December 1975, Charles Court was the minister for federal affairs, a new position.
105.
Charles Court believed that Nedlands was unsuitable for the Tresillian centre, and had the Health Department sell the land to the City of Nedlands in anticipation of moving the centre to Forrestfield, a location that was criticised by parents for being too far away from the city.
106.
The Trades and Labour Council blocked the move, and so Charles Court issued an ultimatum that any staff who prevented children moving to the site at Forrestfield would be sacked and the children returned to their homes.
107.
That day, Charles Court changed his mind, allowing patients at Tresillian to stay until December 1977.
108.
The Charles Court government purchased His Majesty's Theatre from the private landowner, Norman Rydge.
109.
One of Charles Court's focuses was the creation of a major source of energy for Western Australia.
110.
Charles Court believed that cheap energy was needed to overcome Australia's high labour costs so that processing, particularly the refining of steel, would be economical.
111.
Charles Court maintained a close relationship with the joint venture partners.
112.
Charles Court pushed for greater exploration though, and by the end of 1971, large gas reserves were discovered at North Rankin, 130 kilometres north of the Pilbara coast and 3,500 metres under the seabed.
113.
Charles Court met with Gough Whitlam and Connor several times in an attempt to convince them to hand back control of the offshore reserves to the state, but they did not budge from their position.
114.
The joint venture participants were not convinced, so Charles Court travelled to London and California to meet with the heads of the companies involved.
115.
Charles Court managed to convince them to sign the permits, and by the end of the year, the Whitlam government was dismissed and the Liberal Party had won the resulting election.
116.
Charles Court managed to get the federal government to agree for most royalties to go to the state in exchange for the state funding and constructing the Dampier to Bunbury Gas Pipeline.
117.
Charles Court attempted to hurry along an agreement, including travelling to Japan in December 1981, but it was not until May 1985, several years after Charles Court resigned, that the eight Japanese companies signed contracts for the supply of LNG.
118.
Charles Court believed that Aboriginal Australians should assimilate into the dominant Australian culture, similar to the assimilation of migrants from European countries into Australian culture.
119.
Charles Court believed that education should be compulsory for Aboriginal children, and he regretted it when the Brand government's plans to implement compulsory education did not succeed.
120.
Charles Court believed that access to alcohol by Aboriginal people should be restricted by providing vouchers to Aboriginal people to by food, clothing and shelter.
121.
Charles Court attempted to persuade Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser of this idea, but the idea was rejected as the United Nations would not have approved.
122.
Charles Court was strongly opposed to Aboriginal land rights, as he believed the same laws should apply to all Australians, that land rights would in effect create "separate countries", and that Aboriginal people would be manipulated for political reasons.
123.
The Crown Solicitor agreed with the Aboriginal Legal Service, however Charles Court disagreed, saying that "we will have all sorts of 'sacred sites' coming up every time we want to move in these areas".
124.
Charles Court believed that it was urgent to get onshore drilling started.
125.
Charles Court questioned the Noonkanbah community's ties to the land.
126.
In January 1979 though, Charles Court announced plans to close the Fremantle railway line, replace it with buses, and build a road in its place.
127.
Charles Court defended the decision by saying the buses would be more frequent, more flexible, more comfortable, and cheaper to run.
128.
Charles Court had hoped that Des O'Neil would succeed him as premier, however after a period as acting premier, O'Neil decided against ever becoming premier.
129.
Charles Court tried to convince him otherwise, but O'Neil retired at the February 1980 state election.
130.
Charles Court announced the date of that election only a day before the rolls closed, stopping people from being able to enrol via post, which mainly impacted people living in rural areas, and in particular, Aboriginal voters.
131.
Charles Court promoted the North West Shelf Project, the Wagerup and Worsley alumina projects, and the potential for mining uranium and diamonds.
132.
The Liberal Party caucus selected Ray O'Connor as deputy leader, to the disappointment of Charles Court, who thought O'Connor only won by "lobbying and ingratiating himself to members".
133.
Charles Court believed O'Connor was not able to handle portfolios with large budgets, but thought he did "reasonably well with railways" and thought that his personality would help him deal with people.
134.
Charles Court's wife had wanted him to retire, and by that point, there was a minority of Liberal MPs who wanted to replace Court as leader as they considered him too old.
135.
Charles Court officially resigned as premier and as a member of parliament on 25 January 1982.
136.
Charles Court was succeeded as the member for Nedlands by his son Richard Court.
137.
Charles Court believed he could have won it, and regretted retiring before it.
138.
Charles Court said that his failure to develop a successor was his worst political mistake, blaming it on the assumption that Des O'Neil would succeed him.
139.
Charles Court said the role of premier was "beyond O'Connor's ability and integrity".
140.
Charles Court said that he did not charge any fees, and he detested other former politicians who charged high fees for consulting.
141.
The Western Mail reported that Charles Court's advice was in high demand.
142.
Charles Court had an interest in increasing trade with Taiwan alongside Ken Charles Court, and in July 1984, he became an inaugural co-chairman of the Taiwan Trade Association.
143.
Charles Court helped with the licencing of Westpac and ANZ banks in Taiwan.
144.
Charles Court remarried on 22 June 1997 to Judith Mildred Butt, a nurse.
145.
Richard Charles Court served as premier of Western Australia from February 1993 to February 2001.
146.
Victor Charles Court attempted to enter politics by contesting the 1990 senate vacancy caused by the resignation of Fred Chaney, but was beat in Liberal preselection by Ian Campbell.
147.
Charles Court sought Liberal preselection for the Division of Curtin for the 1987 federal election, but was defeated by the incumbent MP Allan Rocher.
148.
Charles Court sought preselection for Curtin again for the 1996 federal election and won, but was defeated in the election by Rocher, who was now an independent.
149.
Barry Charles Court was president of the Western Australian Liberal Party from March 2008 to August 2011.
150.
Charles Court is married to Margaret Court, former world number one tennis player.
151.
Charles Court moved into a nursing home in Cottesloe and had another stroke later that year.
152.
Charles Court died aged 96 on 22 December 2007 in the nursing home.
153.
Charles Court was survived by his wife Judy, five sons, 16 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.
154.
The statue was commissioned by Labor premier Alan Carpenter in 2008 after Charles Court died; It cost $483,000 to build and was designed by artist Tony Jones.