Sir Alan Shallcross Hulme KBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (14 February 1907 – 9 October 1989) was an Australian politician, accountant and cattle breeder. He was born in the Sydney suburb of Mosman

Mosman, New South Wales

Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman.-Localities:In February...

 and moved to Queensland before World War II, where he practised as an accountant. He was a founding member of the Queensland People's Party

Queensland People's Party

The Queensland People's Party was a conservative political party in Queensland, Australia.Created in 1943 by Brisbane Lord Mayor John Beals Chandler, the Queensland People's Party contested elections in South East Queensland. In 1948, they became the Queensland branch of the Liberal Party of...

 and was its president in 1949, when it merged with the Liberal Party

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

.

Hulme won the House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

 seat of Petrie

Division of Petrie

The Division of Petrie is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was created in 1949 and named after Andrew Petrie , a noted civil engineer, pioneer and explorer, and the first free settler in Brisbane ....

 at its creation at the 1949 election

Australian federal election, 1949

Federal elections were held in Australia on 10 December 1949. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives, and 42 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, where the single transferable vote was introduced...

 for the Liberal Party. He was Minister for Supply

Minister for Defence (Australia)

The Minister for Defence of Australia administers his portfolio through the Australian Defence Organisation, which comprises the Department of Defence and the Australian Defence Force. Stephen Smith is the current Minister.-Ministers for Defence:...

 from 1958 to his defeat in the 1961 elections

Australian federal election, 1961

Federal elections were held in Australia on 9 December 1961. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives, and 31 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election...

 by Reginald O'Brien

Reginald O'Brien

Reginald Charles O'Brien was an Australian politician. Born in Newcastle, New South Wales, he was educated at technical schools in Sydney before military service. On his return, he was a public servant, and was an official of the Clerks' Union in Queensland...

. He won Petrie back at the 1963 elections and became Postmaster-General

Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (Australia)

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy is currently Senator the Hon Stephen Conroy. He replaced Senator the Hon Helen Coonan on 3 December 2007.-Portfolio:...

 until his retirement at the 1972 election

Australian federal election, 1972

Federal elections were held in Australia on 2 December 1972. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election. The Liberal Party of Australia had been in power since 1949, under Prime Minister of Australia William McMahon since March 1971 with coalition partner the Country Party...

. He was also Vice-President of the Executive Council

Vice-President of the Executive Council

The Vice-President of the Federal Executive Council is a position in Australian federal governments, whose holder acts as presiding officer of the Federal Executive Council in the absence of the Governor-General....

 from 1966 to 1972. As Postmaster-General, he was responsible for the introduction of an Australian-owned satellite system in 1970, Aussat, which was later privatised as Optus

Optus

SingTel Optus Pty Limited is the second largest telecommunications company in Australia, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Telecommunications...

. In 1972 he was involved in the decision to impose health warnings on cigarette advertising. He was also responsible for the controversial decision to build Telstra Tower

Telstra Tower

Black Mountain Tower is a telecommunication tower that is situated above the summit of Black Mountain in Australia's capital city of Canberra...

 in Canberra

Canberra

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

. In 1972 he announced that colour television would be introduced in Australia from 1 March 1975, by which time he had retired from politics and his party was out of office.

Hulme was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

in January 1971. He died in 1989, survived by two sons and a daughter.