People Australia

Lance Barnard, 1974

National Library of Australia, 22966111

Lance Herbert Barnard (1919-1997) teacher, trade unionist, parliamentarian and diplomat

Birth: 1 May 1919 at Launceston, Tasmania, son of native-born parents Herbert Claude Barnard (1890-1957), engine driver, trade unionist and politician, and Martha Melva, née McKenzie (1891-1967). Marriages: (1) 6 March 1943 at the South Launceston Methodist Church to Doris Catherine Burston (1917-1960), born at Launceston. They had two children. (2) 11 September 1962 to Jill Denise Carstairs, née Cant (1936-2016). They had a son and adopted two daughters. Death: 6 August 1997 in Melbourne, Victoria. Religion: Baptist. 

• Lance’s father was member of the Tasmania House of Assembly in 1950-1957, and previously was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for the seat of Bass in 1934-1949 and a minister in the Chifley government. A cousin Eric Walter Barnard (1924-2017) was a member of the Tasmania House of Assembly.
• Lance was educated at Launceston Junior Technical School leaving to work in the timber industry and as a joiner studying by night at Launceston Technical College.
• He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 10 June 1940 and served in the Middle East, where he was wounded in action. He was discharged on 7 February 1945.
• He became a teacher in the Tasmanian Education Department and a member of the Teachers’ Union.
• Joined the Launceston branch of the Australian Labor Party in 1935. President, Tasmanian Australian Labor Party in 1966-1967 and 1970.
• Member of the House of Representatives for Bass from 1954 to 1975, he was member of the Joint Committee on Public Accounts in 1956-1958, of the Commonwealth Immigration Advisory Council in 1960-1970 and of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs in 1967-1969.
• He was deputy leader of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party from 1967 and of the Opposition in 1967-1972.
• Barnard was deputy prime minister from 1972 to 1974 and minister for defence from 1972 to 1975. During the early days of the Whitlam Labor Government he was part of  the famous duumvirate or ‘two-man dictatorship’ holding fourteen Cabinet portfolios.
• He was described as ‘unpretentious, hard-working, but somewhat plodding’. In 1975 he resigned to become Australia’s ambassador to Sweden, resulting in a by-election which signalled the demise of the Whitlam Government.
• He died following vascular surgery. 

Sources
Rydon; Labor Year Book, 1973; Sydney Morning Herald, 7 August 1997; Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 7 August 1997