26 Facts About Vernon Treatt

Vernon Treatt was the Challis law lecturer at the University of Sydney.

Vernon Treatt entered the New South Wales Legislative Assembly on 26 March 1938, representing the Electoral district of Woollahra for the United Australia Party.

When UAP Premier Bertram Stevens was ousted from the leadership in August 1939 and Alexander Mair became Premier, Mair appointed Vernon Treatt, after serving only a few months in Parliament, as the Minister for Justice.

Vernon Treatt served in this office until the UAP lost power in 1941.

Vernon Treatt continued as a member of parliament until he was defeated in 1962 and thereafter served in various organisations and posts, including as a Chief Commissioner of the City of Sydney in 1969, until his death in 1984.

Vernon Treatt was born in Singleton, New South Wales, in 1897, the youngest son of Frank Burford Treatt, a Police Magistrate and migrant from Devon, England, and Kate Ellen Walsh, and was first educated at Young District School.

Vernon Treatt then took up residence in 1915 at St Paul's College while studying for a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Sydney.

Vernon Treatt was sent over on 5 November 1917 to the Western Front and was later promoted to Sergeant.

At Oxford, Vernon Treatt gained a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Civil Law in 1923 and was briefly admitted to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in that year.

When he returned to Australia, Vernon Treatt was appointed to the New South Wales Bar and as the Sub Warden of St Paul's College, University of Sydney from 1925 to 1930.

Vernon Treatt married Dorothy Isabelle Henderson on 5 June 1930 and had four children: George Vernon, John Vernon, Rosemary Vernon, and Diana Vernon.

In 1927, Vernon Treatt was given the position of Challis lecturer in criminal law at the University of Sydney, a position he was to hold until 1959.

Vernon Treatt's task was to instruct a hundred first year law students in that most important discipline, criminal law.

In March 1928, Vernon Treatt was appointed and served as a Crown Prosecutor for the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the Court of Quarter sessions for the metropolitan district.

Vernon Treatt first entered politics at the 1927 state election as an Independent Nationalist candidate for the Legislative Assembly seat of Willoughby.

On 16 August 1938, after only serving a few months as a member of parliament, Vernon Treatt was appointed as the Minister for Justice in the government of Alexander Mair, who had become Premier after Bertram Stevens was defeated in a motion of no confidence in the house.

Vernon Treatt served as Minister until the 10 May 1941 election when the Mair Government was defeated in a landslide defeat, losing 20 seats.

Mair succeeded him, with Vernon Treatt succeeding Athol Richardson as Deputy Leader.

The third Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party, Vernon Treatt became the first to contest an election.

Vernon Treatt is encased in self satisfied assurance of his own mental superiority.

Vernon Treatt appeared decisive and brought order to the government's chaotic public works program.

On 3 February 1954, Vernon Treatt received, along with Premier Cahill, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, at Farm Cove, Sydney, at the beginning of her first visit to Australia.

The party's deputy leader, Walter Howarth, resigned on 22 July 1954, having complained that Vernon Treatt doubted his loyalty.

Vernon Treatt stayed in Parliament until his seat was abolished before the upcoming election in 1962, at which point he stood for the new seat of Bligh.

Vernon Treatt then joined local government circles, becoming Chair of the Boundaries Commission from 1964 to 1969 and was later appointed as the Chief Commissioner for the dismissed City of Sydney from 1967 to 1969, overseeing the redistribution of council boundaries and reorganisation of council agencies.

Vernon Treatt served as the President of the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust from 1965 to 1967.