45 Facts About Tim Fischer

Tim Fischer was the tenth deputy prime minister in the Howard government from 1996 to 1999.

Tim Fischer served with the Australian Army in the Vietnam War.

Tim Fischer served in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1971 to 1984.

Tim Fischer replaced Charles Blunt as leader of the National Party in 1990, and in the Howard government served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade.

Tim Fischer was born on 3 May 1946 in Lockhart, New South Wales.

Tim Fischer was the fourth of five children born to Barbara Mary and Julius Ralph Fischer; he was predeceased by an older brother who died of meningitis as an infant.

Tim Fischer's parents were "from once wealthy Melbourne families whose businesses had collapsed with the onset of the Great Depression".

Tim Fischer's father worked as a jackaroo, settling in Boree Creek, New South Wales, in 1936, where he ran a stock and station agency and later bought a small farm.

Tim Fischer's paternal grandfather was born in Kleve, Germany, and had his assets frozen due to anti-German sentiment during World War I Tim Fischer's paternal grandmother was the daughter of a French seaman.

Tim Fischer's mother worked as a nurse prior to her marriage.

Tim Fischer's maternal grandfather was a Dutch immigrant who married the daughter of Francis Mason, an Irish immigrant who became speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly.

Tim Fischer grew up on the family property at Boree Creek and attended Boree Creek Public School for six years.

Tim Fischer graduated in 1963 and won a scholarship to attend university, but returned to Boree Creek to assist his family.

Tim Fischer served with the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment between July 1966 and March 1969 as a second lieutenant.

Tim Fischer represented Sturt in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1971 to 1980 and Murray from 1980 to 1984.

Tim Fischer served on the opposition frontbench from 1978 to 1984.

In 1984, Tim Fischer won the federal seat of Farrer in the New South Wales far west for the National Party of Australia, as the Country Party had been renamed.

In 1990, when an attempt by Charles Blunt to modernise the Nationals' image ended with him losing his own seat, Tim Fischer succeeded him as leader, defeating the former leader Ian Sinclair.

Tim Fischer was an enthusiastic supporter of the "Fightback" package of economic and tax reforms proposed by the Liberal leader John Hewson in 1991.

In January 1994, Tim Fischer suffered head and neck injuries in a car accident 15 kilometres south of his property in Lockhart, New South Wales.

Tim Fischer's car T-boned a vehicle that had failed to yield to a give-way sign; the driver and passenger in the other vehicle were killed.

Tim Fischer was knocked unconscious in the accident and taken to hospital in Wagga Wagga.

Tim Fischer took a month off from politics to aid his recovery, with his deputy John Anderson acting as party leader in his absence.

Tim Fischer supported the government introducing tough gun control measures on automatic and semi-automatic weapons following the Port Arthur massacre in April 1996 alongside then-prime minister John Howard, measures which were opposed by much of his party's rural base.

Tim Fischer had difficulty with the determination of many Liberals, including the Treasurer, Peter Costello, to carry out sweeping free-market reforms, including abolishing tariff protection for rural industries, deregulating petrol prices and implementing other measures which farmers' organisations regarded as harmful to themselves.

In pushing to permanently extinguish native title rights of indigenous Australians following the Mabo and Wik decisions, Tim Fischer attracted much criticism.

In 2001, shortly before the expiry of his last parliamentary term, Tim Fischer made public his support for an Australian republic in the future.

Tim Fischer is the only person to have served the entirety of his ministerial career as Deputy Prime Minister.

Tim Fischer served as chairman of Tourism Australia from 2004 until 2007.

Tim Fischer was made a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2000.

Tim Fischer served as chairman and a patron of the Crawford Fund, an initiative of the ATSE supporting international agricultural research, from 2001 to 2006.

Tim Fischer was vice-chair and chair of the Crop Trust and a "vigorous supporter" of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

Tim Fischer served as national chairman of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Tim Fischer served as founding Patron of Australia for UNHCR, an Australian charity that raises funds for the UN's refugee agency.

Tim Fischer was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in the 2005 Australia Day Honours' List in recognition of his contributions to Australian politics, trade liberalisation, rail transport development, support of humanitarian aid, and to fostering community acceptance of cultural differences.

On 21 July 2008, Tim Fischer was nominated by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as the first resident Australian Ambassador to the Holy See.

Tim Fischer worked closely with the Vatican on all aspects of the canonisation of Australia's first Roman Catholic saint, Mary MacKillop.

Tim Fischer retired from the post on 20 January 2012.

Tim Fischer was noted as a tireless advocate for rail transport and was probably Australia's best known railfan.

Tim Fischer had a childhood hobby of studying rail gauges of the world.

Between 2008 and 2009, Tim Fischer hosted three series of ABC Local Radio podcasts The Great Train Show, covering a wide range of railway topics from around the world and within Australia.

In October 2018, Tim Fischer was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.

Tim Fischer died on 22 August 2019 at the Albury-Wodonga Cancer Centre in East Albury, New South Wales at age 73.

Tim Fischer himself attributed the illness to exposure to Agent Orange during his service in Vietnam.

Tim Fischer was given a state funeral, which was held in Albury on 29 August 2019.