17 Facts About James Killen

James Killen served as Vice-President of the Executive Council, Minister for Defence and Minister for the Navy during his parliamentary career.

James Killen enlisted for service in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II; he was discharged in 1945 with the rank of flight sergeant.

James Killen quickly became known as a talented orator but his outspokenness and commitment to causes that Menzies regarded as contrary to Liberal Party principles limited his chances of promotion.

James Killen's critics alleged he was associated with the extremist Australian League of Rights, whose director, Eric Dudley Butler, was a notorious anti-Semite, although Killen himself was never accused of anti-Semitism.

James Killen was a supporter of Ian Smith's regime in Rhodesia and opposed sanctions against apartheid South Africa.

When William McMahon became Prime Minister, James Killen was dropped from the Ministry.

James Killen served as Minister for Defence in the Fraser Government from 1975 to 1982.

James Killen was moved out of Defence in a 1982 reshuffle.

James Killen was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, becoming "Sir James Killen KCMG", and appointed Vice-President of the Executive Council, a position he held until the defeat of the Fraser government in 1983 election by Labor under Bob Hawke.

James Killen became Father of the House of Representatives in April 1983, and resigned his seat of Moreton in August 1983, and returned to his legal practice.

James Killen was a prominent figure at the Brisbane bar through the 1980s and 1990s.

James Killen was a prominent monarchist and was elected to the Constitutional Convention in 1998 as an opponent of an Australian republic.

James Killen had a reputation as a great parliamentary wit who developed close friendships with many people on both sides of politics, among them Gough Whitlam, Fred Daly and Barry Cohen.

James Killen wrote the preface to Daly's collection of political anecdotes, The Politician Who Laughed.

Joy James Killen died in 2000, and he married his second wife, Benise the following year.

In 1976, Mungo MacCallum published an article in the Nation Review magazine alleging that James Killen was having an extramarital affair with Margaret Guilfoyle, one of his cabinet colleagues.

James Killen was survived by his second wife Benise, his two surviving daughters, and two granddaughters.