George Lansell
George Lansell | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Victorian Legislative Council for Bendigo | |
| In office 1 June 1928 – 1 June 1952 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph Sternberg |
| Succeeded by | Arthur Smith |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 October 1883 London, United Kingdom |
| Died | 9 January 1959 (aged 75) Bendigo, Victoria, Australia |
| Party | Nationalist, Country, Liberal and Country |
| Spouse |
Edith Florence Gwendoline Frew
(m. 1910) |
| Children | 3 |
Sir George Victor Lansell CMG VD (3 October 1883 – 9 January 1959) was an English-born Australian politician.
Lansell was born in London the elder son of mining entrepreneur of George Lansell (the Bendigo 'Quartz King'), and his second wife Harriet Edith, née Bassford.[1]
He was educated at St Andrew's College, Bendigo and at Melbourne Grammar School, and in 1906 inherited his father's estate of £6 million.[2] He owned the Bendigo Independent newspaper and merged it with the Bendigo Advertiser in 1918, and was chairman of a large number of media and other companies around regional Victoria.
During World War I he served in the AIF with the 38th Battalion, becoming a captain but being wounded on the Western Front. In 1923 he was awarded the Volunteer Decoration and promoted to commanding officer of his battalion; he was raised to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1927 and appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1937.[1]
In 1928 he had won election to the Victorian Legislative Council as a Nationalist member for Bendigo Province.[3] In 1944 he defected to the Country Party, but he joined the Liberal and Country Party in 1949;[1] he remained sympathetic to the Country Party government of John McDonald. Lansell was knighted in 1951,[1] but lost his seat in the council in June the following year.[3]
He died in Bendigo in 1959.
A statue by sculptor James White, is dedicated to George Lansell, and now stands in Rosalind Park, Bendigo, Australia.[4]
References
- ^ a b c d Peoples, Kevin (1983). "Sir George Victor Lansell (1883–1959)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 9. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 9 August 2025.
- ^ "Lansell, Sir George Victor". Archived from the original on 2 September 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b "Sir George Victor Lansell". Members of Parliament. Parliament of Victoria. Retrieved 9 August 2025.
- ^ "A city pays tribute". www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au. 12 November 2008. Retrieved 1 October 2025.