30 Facts About Jim McClelland

James Robert McClelland was an Australian lawyer, politician, and judge.

Jim McClelland was a member of the Australian Labor Party and served as a Senator for New South Wales from 1971 to 1978.

Jim McClelland briefly held ministerial office in the Whitlam government in 1975 as Minister for Manufacturing Industry and Minister for Labor and Immigration.

Jim McClelland later served as the inaugural Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales from 1980 to 1985, as well as presiding over the 1984 McClelland Royal Commission into British nuclear tests in Australia.

Jim McClelland was the son of Florence Ruby and Robert William McClelland.

Jim McClelland's father, of Ulster Scots descent, was a painter, paperhanger and signwriter with the Victorian Railways.

Jim McClelland spent his early years in the Melbourne suburb of Glen Iris.

Jim McClelland completed his secondary education on a scholarship at St Kevin's College, Melbourne, where he was a classmate of B A Santamaria.

Jim McClelland's parents had a mixed marriage and he was raised in his mother's Catholic faith.

Jim McClelland considered training for the priesthood, but abandoned Catholicism as a young adult.

Jim McClelland won a scholarship to attend the University of Melbourne in 1932, but dropped out in 1934 and joined Victorian Railways as a clerk.

Jim McClelland later re-enrolled as a part-time student and graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1936.

Jim McClelland later worked for ARC Engineering Company and was a shop steward, but in 1942 was expelled from the FIA for engaging in disruptive activities and terminated from his employment for "anti-war deviationism".

In 1943, Jim McClelland joined the Royal Australian Air Force.

Jim McClelland served as a leading aircraftman with radar units in Australia and was stationed in New Guinea from 1945 to 1946.

Jim McClelland subsequently enrolled to study law at the University of Sydney under the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme, graduating Bachelor of Laws in 1950.

Jim McClelland was admitted to practise law in New South Wales in 1951 and established the firm of Boyland, McClelland and Company.

Jim McClelland represented Short from 1950 to 1952 in his successful attempts to remove the leadership of the FIA, briefing barrister and future governor-general John Kerr.

Jim McClelland joined the Glen Iris branch of the Australian Labor Party in 1941 and joined the Paddington branch after moving to Sydney.

Jim McClelland first stood for parliament at the 1966 election, running unsuccessfully in the safe Liberal seat of Warringah.

Jim McClelland was elected to represent New South Wales for the ALP in the 1970 Senate election, his term to begin on 1 July 1971.

Jim McClelland was again elected in the double dissolution election of May 1974.

Jim McClelland was again elected at the December 1975 double dissolution election.

Jim McClelland resigned from the Senate on 21 July 1978.

In 1980 Jim McClelland was appointed the first chief judge of the Land and Environment Court of NSW, holding that office until his 70th birthday in June 1985.

In 1984, as Justice Jim McClelland, he was President of the Royal Commission into British nuclear tests in Australia at Maralinga.

Jim McClelland was reviled by the right as is indicated in Roddy Meagher's portrait in Quadrant, and associated with Edmund Campion, Patrick White, Manning Clark and Donald Horne.

In 1947, Jim McClelland married Nora Fitzer, a Harbin Russian of Jewish descent.

Jim McClelland was widowed in 1976 and in 1978 married writer Gillian Appleton.

Jim McClelland died at his home on 16 January 1999, aged 83.