Neil O'Sullivan

Minister for Trade and Customs
Minister for Trade and Customs
	In office; 19 December 1949 – 11 January 1956
Prime Minister	Robert Menzies
Preceded by	Ben Courtice
Succeeded by	John McEwen
Senator for Queensland
	In office; 1 July 1947 – 30 June 1962
Personal details
Born	2 August 1900; Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Political party	UAP (to 1945); Liberal (from 1945)
Spouse	Jessie McEncroe (m. 1929)
Relations	Patrick O'Sullivan (grandfather); Thomas O'Sullivan (uncle); Neil MacGroarty (uncle)
Occupation	Solicitor

Sir Michael Neil O'Sullivan

Minister for the Navy (1956), and Attorney-General

(1956–58).

Early life

O'Sullivan was born on 2 August 1900 in

Queensland Legislative Assembly, as did his paternal grandfather Patrick O'Sullivan.^[2]

O'Sullivan attended the state school in

articles of clerkship with firms in Brisbane and Warwick. He did not attend law school but was admitted as a solicitor in December 1922 by examination.^[3] He subsequently took over his father's practice in Brisbane, later forming a partnership with John Joseph Rowell.^[2]

Regarded as "a leader of Brisbane's mercantile sector", O'Sullivan was president of the Brisbane Chamber of Commerce from 1936 to 1937 and the Property Owners' Protection Association from 1937 to 1938.[3] He served in the Royal Australian Air Force from May 1942 to December 1944, performing intelligence and administration in Australia and the South-West Pacific.^[2] He was commissioned as a flying officer and met future prime minister John Gorton while stationed at Milne Bay.^[3]

Political career

O'Sullivan ran unsuccessfully for the United Australia Party (UAP) in the Division of Brisbane at the 1934 federal election. He was also an unsuccessful candidate for the Queensland UAP in the seat of Windsor at the 1941 state election.^[3]

At the

January 1956. In August 1956, he was appointed Attorney-General following the resignation of John Spicer and in October 1956, he was appointed Vice-President of the Executive Council following the resignation of Eric Harrison, but he retired from the ministry in 1958. He did not stand for re-election at the 1961 election.^[2] After leaving politics he became a director of LJ Hooker.^[4]

Views

In his

anti-communist and cited the papal encyclical Quadragesimo anno in a 1947 speech against the Chifley government's bank nationalisation bill.^[3]

Personal life

O'Sullivan married Jessie McEncroe on 3 April 1929, with whom he had two sons.[2] He was a devout Catholic and was a close connection of Archbishop James Duhig, with his biographer Duncan Waterson stating that "on matters of faith, morals, censorship and conservative Catholic social thought the two were as one".^[3] O'Sullivan was made Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1959.^[2]

O'Sullivan died unexpectedly of a coronary occlusion while visiting Sydney in 1968.

Nudgee Cemetery.^[2]

Notes

^ "Queensland index of Births". p. 1900/C11111. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
^
ISSN 1833-7538
. Retrieved 23 October 2007.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Waterson, D. B. (2004). "O'Sullivan, Sir Michael Neil (1900–1968)". The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Melbourne University Press.
^ ^a ^b "Neil O’Sullivan”, The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 July 1968. Retrieved 26 November 2017.

Political offices
Preceded by Ben Courtice	Minister for Trade and Customs 1949–56	Succeeded by John McEwen
Preceded by Eric Harrison	Minister for the Navy 1956	Succeeded by Charles Davidson
Preceded by John Spicer	Attorney-General 1956–58	Succeeded by Garfield Barwick
Preceded by Eric Harrison	Vice-President of the Executive Council 1956–58	Succeeded by Bill Spooner
Party political offices
Vacant Title last held by George McLeay	Leader of the Liberal Party in the Senate 1949–58	Succeeded by Bill Spooner

[1] "Queensland index of Births". p. 1900/C11111. Retrieved 14 August 2017.

[adb-2] 
ISSN 1833-7538
. Retrieved 23 October 2007.

[bio-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Waterson, D. B. (2004). "O'Sullivan, Sir Michael Neil (1900–1968)". The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Melbourne University Press.

[NOS-4] "Neil O’Sullivan”, The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 July 1968. Retrieved 26 November 2017.

[2]

[3]

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