23 Facts About Neil O'Sullivan

Sir Michael Neil O'Sullivan KBE was an Australian politician and lawyer.

Neil O'Sullivan served as a Senator for Queensland from 1947 to 1962, representing the Liberal Party.

Neil O'Sullivan held senior ministerial positions in the post-war Menzies Government, serving as Minister for Trade and Customs, Minister for the Navy, and Attorney-General.

Neil O'Sullivan was the fifth child born to Patrick Alban O'Sullivan and his wife Mary Bridget, both of Irish Catholic descent.

Neil O'Sullivan attended the state school in Taringa before completing his education at St Joseph's Nudgee College.

Neil O'Sullivan followed his father into the legal profession, serving articles of clerkship with firms in Brisbane and Warwick.

Neil O'Sullivan did not attend law school but was admitted as a solicitor in December 1922 by examination.

Neil O'Sullivan subsequently took over his father's practice in Brisbane, later forming a partnership with John Joseph Rowell.

Neil O'Sullivan served in the Royal Australian Air Force from May 1942 to December 1944, performing intelligence and administration in Australia and the South-West Pacific.

Neil O'Sullivan was commissioned as a flying officer and met future prime minister John Gorton while stationed at Milne Bay.

Neil O'Sullivan ran unsuccessfully for the United Australia Party in the Division of Brisbane at the 1934 federal election.

Neil O'Sullivan was an unsuccessful candidate for the Queensland UAP in the seat of Windsor at the 1941 state election.

At the 1946 federal election, Neil O'Sullivan won a seat in the Senate for the Liberal Party of Australia as one of only three non-Labor members in the Senate.

Neil O'Sullivan was appointed Minister for the Navy in January 1956.

Neil O'Sullivan did not stand for re-election at the 1961 election.

Neil O'Sullivan was a social conservative, supporting heavy censorship as a safeguard against "indecency, blasphemy and sedition".

Neil O'Sullivan was an anti-communist and cited the papal encyclical Quadragesimo anno in a 1947 speech against the Chifley government's bank nationalisation bill.

Neil O'Sullivan married Jessie McEncroe on 3 April 1929, with whom he had two sons.

Neil O'Sullivan was a devout Catholic and was a close connection of Archbishop James Duhig, with his biographer Duncan Waterson stating that "on matters of faith, morals, censorship and conservative Catholic social thought the two were as one".

Neil O'Sullivan was made Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1959.

Neil O'Sullivan died unexpectedly of a coronary occlusion while visiting Sydney in 1968.

Neil O'Sullivan was survived by his wife and two sons.

Neil O'Sullivan was accorded a state funeral and was buried in Nudgee Cemetery.