Harold Victor Campbell Thorby (2 October 1888 – 1 January 1973) was an Australian politician and government minister.

Early life

Thorby was born in the Sydney suburb of Annandale

Annandale, New South Wales

Annandale is a suburb of Inner West Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Annandale is located within 3-5 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the Municipality of Leichhardt. Annandale's northern end lies on Rozelle Bay,...

 and was educated at Geurie

Geurie, New South Wales

Geurie is a small village in central-west New South Wales, Australia in Wellington Council. It is located midway between Wellington and Dubbo in the Orana Region of the State. It is located on the Main Western railway line, and is served by the daily Countrylink XPT service between Sydney and Dubbo...

 Public School and Sydney Grammar School

Sydney Grammar School

Sydney Grammar School is an independent, non-denominational, selective, day school for boys, located in Darlinghurst, Edgecliff and St Ives, all suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....

 and worked on his grandparents' farm at Geurie. He studied woolclassing, veterinary science and architecture and became a grazier. In 1916, he married Vera Lynda Morley and they had two daughters.

Political career

Thorby was a member of the three-member electoral district of Wammerawa

Electoral district of Wammerawa

Wammerawa was a former electoral district for the Legislative Assembly in the Australian State of New South Wales, created in 1920, with the introduction of proportional representation and named after an alternative name for the Macquarie River. It mainly replaced Mudgee, Castlereagh and Liverpool...

 in the NSW Legislative Assembly

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

 from 1922 to 1927 for Country Party

National Party of Australia

The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...

. After its division into single-member electorates in 1927 he represented Castlereagh

Electoral district of Castlereagh

Castlereagh was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales originally created in 1904, partly replacing Coonamble and named after the Castlereagh River. In 1920, with the introduction of proportional representation, it was absorbed into Wammerawa,...

 for one term to 1930 until his defeat by Joseph Alfred Clark of the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

. He was the Minister for Agriculture and chairman of the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission in the government of Thomas Bavin from 1927 to 1930, during which construction of the Wyangala Dam

Wyangala Dam

Wyangala Dam is a large water storage facility located in the southwest slopes area of New South Wales, Australia. The dam is situated below the junction of the Lachlan River and Abercrombie River. It was the second water storage project to be constructed by the Water Conservation and Irrigation...

 commenced, the Burrinjuck Dam

Burrinjuck Dam

Burrinjuck Dam is a high, concrete gravity dam on the Murrumbidgee River approximately 60 km from Yass, New South Wales, Australia. The Yass and Goodradigbee Rivers flow into the dam. The dam divides the upper and lower catchment of the Murrumbidgee and is the headwater storage for the...

 was finished and the Hawkesbury Agricultural College

Hawkesbury Agricultural College

Hawkesbury Agricultural College was the first agricultural college of New South Wales, Australia. Established by Sydney Smith in Richmond, New South Wales in 1891, the college was incorporated into the University of Western Sydney in 1989....

 was enlarged.

At the 1931 general election

Australian federal election, 1931

Federal elections were held in Australia on 19 December 1931. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...

, Thorby won the federal seat of Calare

Division of Calare

The Division of Calare is an Australian Electoral Division in New South Wales. The division was first contested at the 1906 election and is named for the local Aboriginal name for the Lachlan River, which runs through the western part of the division...

, which he until 1940. He was a Minister without Portfolio from November 1934 to November 1937 in the Lyons government

Third Lyons Ministry

The Third Lyons Ministry was the twenty-third Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 9 November 1934 to 29 November 1937.United Australia Party–Australian Country Party Coalition...

, entitled Assistant Minister for Repatriation (1934–35), Minister for War Service Homes

Minister for Veterans' Affairs (Australia)

The Australian Minister for Veterans' Affairs oversees income support, compensation, care and commemoration programs for more than 400,000 veterans and their widows, widowers and dependants....

 (1935–36) and Assistant Minister for Commerce (1935–37). In the Lyons

Fourth Lyons Ministry

The Fourth Lyons Ministry was the twenty-fourth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 29 November 1937 to 7 April 1939.United Australia Party–Australian Country Party Coalition*Rt Hon Joseph Lyons, MP: Prime Minister...

 and Page Ministry

Page Ministry

The Page Ministry was the twenty-fifth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 7 April 1939 to 26 April 1939.United Australia Party–Australian Country Party Coalition*Rt Hon Sir Earle Page, GCMG MP: Prime Minister, Minister for Commerce...

 governments, he was Minister for Defence

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 November 1937 to November 1938 and Minister for Works and Minister for Civil Aviation

Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government (Australia)

The Australian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport is the Hon Anthony Albanese. On 3 December 2007 he replaced the Minister for Transport and Regional Services, the Hon Mark Vaile, who held office since August 2006, and the Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads, the Hon Jim...

 from November 1938. During this period he initiated a program of adding annexes to existing factories to accelerate armaments production, but this program failed to spend even budgeted funds. In April 1939, he left the ministry when the Country Party refused to take part in the Menzies government

First Menzies Ministry

The First Menzies Ministry was the twenty-sixth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 26 April 1939 to 14 March 1940.United Australia Party*Rt Hon Robert Menzies, KC MP: Prime Minister, Treasurer...

. With the formation of a coalition government

Second Menzies Ministry

The Second Menzies Ministry was the twenty-seventh Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 14 March 1940 to 28 October 1940.United Australia Party–Australian Country Party Coalition...

 in March 1940, Thorby became Minister for Health

Minister for Health and Ageing (Australia)

The Minister for Health and Ageing is a portfolio in the Government of Australia with the responsibility for national health policy. The current Minister for Health and Ageing is Nicola Roxon...

 and 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:...

.

After his defeat in 1940 election

Australian federal election, 1940

Federal elections were held in Australia on 21 September 1940. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...

 by Labor's John Breen

John Breen (Australian politician)

John Patrick Breen was an Australian politician. Born in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, he attended Catholic schools and then the University of Sydney. He became a publican and organiser of the Australian Workers' Union before being elected to the Australian House of Representatives in 1940...

, Thorby ran unsuccessfully for the state seat of Dubbo

Electoral district of Dubbo

Dubbo is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Troy Grant of the National Party of Australia....

 in 1941 and the federal seat of Calare in 1943 election

Australian federal election, 1943

Federal elections were held in Australia on 21 August 1943. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister of Australia John Curtin easily defeated the opposition Country Party led...

 and 1946 election

Australian federal election, 1946

Federal elections were held in Australia on 28 September 1946. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...

. He returned to farming on his wife's parents property at Wongarbon

Wongarbon, New South Wales

Wongarbon is a small village that lays approximately 18 km. east of Dubbo just off the Mitchell Highway between Dubbo and Wellington, New South Wales, Australia. At the 2006 census, Wongarbon had a population of 449....

 and remained active in the Graziers' Association and the Country Party. Thorby's first wife died in 1958 and he married Alfreda Rogers Smith in 1960. He died at his home in the Sydney suburb of Wahroonga

Wahroonga, New South Wales

Wahroonga is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Wahroonga is located 22 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Ku-ring-gai Council and Hornsby Shire....

, survived by two daughters from his first marriage.