People Australia

Clive Raleigh Evatt (1900-1984) barrister and parliamentarian 

Birth: 6 June 1900 at East Maitland, New South Wales, son of John Ashmore Hamilton Evatt (1851-1901), a publican of Irish descent, born at Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, and Jane Sophia (Jeanie), née Gray (1863-1922), born in Sydney. Marriage: 28 January 1928 a St Stephen’s Presbyterian Church, Sydney, to native-born Marjorie Hannah Andreas (1903-1984). They had one son and two daughters. Death: 15 September 1984 at the Sacred Heart Hospice, Darlinghurst; usual residence Junction Road, Wahroonga, Sydney. 

• Clive was educated Fort St High School, Royal Military College, Duntroon (graduate and King’s Medal) and University of Sydney (LLB 1926). He was called to the Bar in 1926 and appointed KC 1935.
• He was president of the Australia-Russia Society. Played hooker for University Rugby League Football Club and represented NSW.
• Was a member of Heffron’s Industrial Labor Party in 1939, and was expelled from the Australian Labor Party in 1956 for voting against party measures; stood as an Independent in 1959.
• He was the brother of H. V. Evatt, with similar eccentricities and a passion for civil liberties and freedom of expression. Sent Christmas cards to every Aboriginal family in NSW.
• Member of the Legislative Assembly for Hurstville from 1939 to 1959. Minister for Education 1941-1944; Assistant Minister 1944-1946; Minister in charge of Tourist Activities and Immigration 1946-1947; Minister for Housing 1947-1950 and 1952-194; Assistant Treasurer 1947-1953; Colonial Secretary 1950-1952; Minister for Co-operative Societies 1950-1954. In 1954 he was compelled to resign from Cabinet by Premier J. J. Cahill.
• ‘Australia’s best-known and fiercest defamation lawyer . . . a charismatic man of striking appearance’.
• Cause of death: cerebral atrophy and alzheimers disease (4 years).
• Justice Elizabeth Evatt and architect Penelope Seidler were his daughters. 

Sources
Heather Radi, Peter Spearritt and Elizabeth Hinton (eds), Biographical Register of the NSW Parliament 1901-1970 (Canberra, 1979); Sydney Morning Herald, 17 September 1984.