Sir Duncan Ross McLarty KBE MM
17th Premier of Western Australia
In office 1 April 1947 – 23 February 1953
Preceded by	Frank Wise
Succeeded by	Albert Hawke
Constituency	Electoral district of Murray-Wellington
Born	17 March 1891(1891-03-17) Pinjarra, Western Australia
Died	22 December 1962 (aged 71) Pinjarra, Western Australia
Political party	Nationalist Party of Australia
Spouse	Violet Olive Margaret Herron

Sir Duncan Ross McLarty, KBE, MM (17 March 1891 – 22 December 1962) was the seventeenth Premier of Western Australia from April 1947 to February 1953.

Early life

McLarty was born in Pinjarra, Western Australia, the youngest of seven children of Edward McLarty, a farmer and grazier and member of the Western Australian Legislative Council, and his wife Mary Jane, née Campbell. He attended Pinjarra State School and the High School, Perth.

On 12 January 1916 he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at the Blackboy Hill depot. On 27 March he was promoted to corporal and assigned to the 44th Battalion, arriving in England on 21 July. The 44th Battalion depart England for the Western Front on 25 November 1916. McLarty was promoted to Sargeant on 29 March 1917. In June 1918, McLarty officially received the Military Medal for Bravery in the field on 25 January 1918 at Passchendaele.^{1 2}

McLarty was commissioned on 1 May 1918 as a 2nd Lieutenant and was promoted to Lieutenant on 1 August this was the rank he held until being discharged. On 28 August 1918, during the Second Battle of the Somme McLarty was wounded in the left hand.¹ While convalescing in London he had a chance meeting with his brother Douglas who was serving with the 16th Battalion.³

After the war McLarty returned to farming at Pinjarra and married Violet Olive Margaret Herron on 25 October 1922. He served as a justice of the peace from 1925 and belonged to the Returned Sailors', Soldiers' and Airmen's Imperial League of Australia (later the Returned and Services League of Australia).

Politics

In 1930, he campaigned as a Nationalist candidate in the state elections with the slogan, 'A Practical Farmer for a Farming Electorate', winning the lower house seat of Electoral district of Murray-Wellington in 1930 under James Mitchell. Labor won the 1933 elections and in December 1946, after 16 years in opposition, McLarty was appointed as leader of the opposition.

Premier of Western Australia

The April 1947 election saw the newly formed West Australian Liberal Party defeat the ALP government headed by Frank Wise who had held the position for only two years. McLarty's party formed a coalition government with the Country and Democratic League.

As well as his premiership, he held portfolios including Treasurer, Housing, Forests and the North-West. Under his administration the rapid post-war expansion of the West Australian economy commenced, and it was his government that in 1950 secured a deal with British Petroleum (BP) to develop an oil refinery at Kwinara (a percusor to the development of that area as Western Australia's main industrial zone). His government also accepted federal funding to establish the State Housing Commission, and thus kick-started the vast expansion of suburban Perth. However, his premiership was marred by infighting between the the two co-alition parties. He was knighted in January 1953, and lost at the elections the next month, continuing as opposition leader for another four years until March 1957.

Throughout his parliamentary career, McLarty travelled home to Pinjarra on most weekends. He was chairman of the Murray District Hospital Board and held a number of pastoral investments, including a controlling interest in Liveringa station, near Derby. He resigned from Parliament because of poor health in May 1962 and died in December. McLarty received a State funeral and is buried in the Pinjarra cemetery.

References

Further reading

• The McLarty Family of Pinjarra by Ronald Richards
• McLarty, D.R. (1951) The Development of Western Australia London: Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, United Kingdom Branch "An address given in the rooms of The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (United Kingdom Branch), Westminster Hall, on March 20th, 1951, with the Rt. Hon Lord Llewellin, C.B.E., M.C. in the chair" -Inside cover.
• K. West, Power in the Liberal Party (Melb, 1965)
• West Australian, 13 Feb 1957, 19 May, 24 December 1962
• M. McLarty, Sir Duncan Ross McLarty, K.B.E., M.M. (State Library of Western Australia)
• McLarty family papers, 1887-1969 (State Library of Western Australia)
• Sir Ross McLarty, political ephemera (PR3597/1-10, State Library of Western Australia)
• R. Jamieson, interviews with R. Doig (transcript, 1984-86, State Library of Western Australia).
• Lenore Layman, McLarty, Sir Duncan Ross (1891 - 1962) Australian Dictionary of Biography - online edition

External links

• Lenore Layman, McLarty, Sir Duncan Ross (1891 - 1962), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Online Edition, published by Australian National University
• Duncan Ross McLarty (Liberal) April 1, 1947 to February 23, 1953 Constitutional Centre of Western Australia

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