Joh Bjelke-Petersen

The Honourable Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen, KCMG (13 January, 1911 - 23 April 2005) was an Australian politician who was Premier of the state of Queensland from 1968 to 1987, the state's longest serving Premier. His populist and authoritarian style made an indelible impact both within Queensland and elsewhere within Australia.

Early life

Bjelke-Petersen was born in Dannevirke in the Manawatu region of New Zealand, and lived in Waipukurau, a small town in Hawke's Bay. Bjelke-Petersen's parents were both Danish immigrants, and his father, Carl, was a Lutheran pastor. In 1913 the family left for Australia, moving to Kingaroy in south-eastern Queensland and taking up dairy farming.

Related Topics:
Dannevirke - Manawatu - New Zealand - Waipukurau - Hawke's Bay - Danish - Lutheran - Pastor - 1913 - Kingaroy - Dairy farming

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The young Johannes suffered from polio, leaving him with a life-long limp. The family was poor, and Carl Bjelke-Petersen was frequently in poor health. Johannes and his mother Maren worked on the farm. Imbued with the strongly pietistic Lutheranism associated with the Danish immigrants of the area, Johannes was somewhat resentful of both his father and elder brother, whose sickliness and academic leanings meant that they left much of the work to him. Biographer James Walter has suggested that this resentment would feed Johannes' anti-intellectual tendencies in later life.

Related Topics:
Polio - Limp - Pietistic - Anti-intellectual

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In 1933, Joh Bjelke-Petersen began work on the family's newly-acquired second property at land-clearing and peanut farming. His efforts eventually allowed him to begin work as a contract land-clearer, (exploiting a tax deduction then allowable to primary producers) and to acquire further capital which he invested in farm equipment and natural resource exploration. By the time he entered Parliament, he had built a thriving business and was a successful entrepreneur.

Related Topics:
1933 - Entrepreneur

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Under sponsorship from Charles Adermann and Frank Nicklin, he was elected as Country Party member for Nanango in the Queensland Legislative Assembly in 1946 (from 1950 to 1987 he was member for Barambah). The Australian Labor Party had held power in Queensland since 1932 and Bjelke-Petersen spent eleven years as an Opposition member.

Related Topics:
Charles Adermann - Frank Nicklin - Country Party - Queensland Legislative Assembly - 1946 - 1950 - 1987 - Australian Labor Party - 1932

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