People Australia

Patrick Hills, by Jack Hickson, 1968

State Library of New South Wales, 119198

Patrick Darcy (Pat) Hills (1917-1992) engineer, trade union official, lord mayor and parliamentarian 

Birth: 31 December 1917 at Surry Hills, Sydney, New South Wales, son of John Shirley Hills (1884-1964), a foreman and engine-driver born at Rotherhithe, London, England, and native-born Margaret Mary, née O’Sullivan (1886-1963), born at Newcastle, NSW. Marriage: 20 December 1941 to Stella Steele Smith, a stenographer, born at Paddington, Sydney. They had three daughters and two sons. Death: 22 April 1992 at Darlinghurst, Sydney. Religion: Catholic. 

• Attended Marist Brothers’ College, Darlinghurst. Served an apprenticeship in electrical engineering and gained work as a toolmaker. Worked for General Motors-Holden, Pagewood. Established own engineering company.
• Member of the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU); shop steward and delegate to Federal Conference, AEU; branch president of the AEU in 1945-1948.
• An alderman on Sydney City Council from 1948 to 1956, he was lord mayor from 1952 to 1956. Member, Sydney County Council, 1949-1954, and chairman in 1952.
• He had joined the Australian Labor Party in 1934 and held branch and electorate council positions and was a delegate to the ALP State and Federal conferences.
• Hills was elected member of the NSW Legislative Assembly for the seat of Phillip at a by-election in August 1954. He was minister assisting the premier and treasurer from April to October 1959; acting minister for transport in May-September 1959, minister for local government and for highways in October 1959-May 1965, deputy leader of the Opposition in 1964-1968 and leader from 1968 until 1973, when he lost the position to Neville Wran.
• When Labor gained office under Wran in 1976 Hills became minister for mines and energy 1976-1978, minister for energy 1976-1981 and minister for industrial relations 1976-1988; minister for technology 1978-1980 and 1981-1984, roads 1984 and employment 1986-1988.
• He was a director of the Benevolent Society of NSW 1955-56; director of Prince Alfred Hospital 1959-1963; councillor, Sydney Cricket Club, 1949-1954, and chair 1952; trustee, Sydney Cricket Ground from 1961 and chair from 1977 to 1989.
• In 1988 he was appointed AO and retired from Parliament.
• Cause of death: heart failure. 

Sources
Heather Radi, Peter Spearritt and Elizabeth Hinton (eds), Biographical Register of the NSW Parliament 1901-1970 (Canberra, 1979); Labor Year Book, 1973; Sydney Morning Herald, 23 April 1992.