1. Reginald Francis Xavier Connor was an Australian politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1963 until he died in 1977, representing the Labor Party.
26 Facts About Rex Connor
1. 2.
Rex Connor was the Minister for Minerals and Energy in the Whitlam government from 1972 to 1975.
3.
Rex Connor served on the Wollongong City Council from 1938 to 1945, and then in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1950 to 1963.
4.
However, Rex Connor is best known as the central figure in the "loans affair", which arose from his attempts to secure petrodollar loans from Middle Eastern financiers.
5.
Rex Connor died as the sitting member for the Division of Cunningham, precipitating the 1977 Cunningham by-election.
6.
Rex Connor was born on 26 January 1907 in Wollongong, New South Wales.
7.
Rex Connor was the son of Ethel and Peter Francis Connor; his father was a labourer.
8.
Rex Connor attended Wollongong High School, of which he graduated as dux despite contracting pneumonia in his final year.
9.
Rex Connor initially intended to pursue a career in analytical chemistry, but after his father's death in 1925 he entered the workforce to support his family.
10.
In 1926, Rex Connor began working as an articled clerk under solicitor Charles Morgan.
11.
Rex Connor handled industrial and workers' compensation cases for Morgan, but in 1931 was dismissed after a falling out.
12.
Rex Connor passed the examinations required to practise law but was twice rejected by the Solicitors' Admission Board.
13.
In 1940, when the NSW ALP was split into three factions, Rex Connor unsuccessfully contested the federal seat of Werriwa for the so-called "Hughes-Evans Labor Party", the left-wing faction which had split from the recently reunified ALP in NSW, led by William McKell.
14.
Rex Connor remained in the ALP when most of the Hughes-Evans faction were expelled in 1941.
15.
In 1950 Rex Connor was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for the seat of Wollongong-Kembla, where he served until 1963.
16.
Rex Connor was partly responsible for the introduction of the state's Clean Air Act 1961.
17.
Rex Connor remained a backbencher reportedly as he was not a supporter of the dominant Catholic right-wing of the NSW ALP.
18.
In 1963 Rex Connor quit state politics and was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the Wollongong-based seat of Cunningham at the 1963 election.
19.
At the 1972 election, Labor came to power under Gough Whitlam, and Rex Connor was elected to the front-bench and appointed Minister for Minerals and Energy.
20.
Rex Connor liked to recite a piece of poetry by Sam Walter Foss:.
21.
Nevertheless, Rex Connor went on negotiating through Khemlani for a huge petrodollar loan for his various development projects, confident that if he succeeded no-one would blame him, and if he failed no-one would know.
22.
Rex Connor can be criticised for his naivety and poor judgement.
23.
In 1931, Rex Connor married Grace Searl, with whom he had three sons.
24.
Rex Connor was widowed in April 1977 a few months before his own death.
25.
Rex Connor died at Canberra Hospital on 22 August 1977, aged 70, following a coronary occlusion.
26.
One of his sons, Rex Connor junior, founded and led the Advance Australia Party.