Murray Hill (politician) explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Honourable
Murray Hill
Honorific-Suffix:AM
Office1:Minister for Local Government
Term Start1:17 April 1968
Term End1:1 June 1970
Premier1:Steele Hall
Predecessor1:Stan Bevan
Successor1:Geoff Virgo
Term Start2:18 September 1979
Term End2:10 November 1982
Premier2:David Tonkin
Predecessor2:John Bannon
Successor2:Terry Hemmings
Office3:Member of the South Australian Legislative Council
Term Start3:4 December 1965
Term End3:4 July 1988
Birth Date:2 July 1923
Birth Place:Glenelg, South Australia, Australia
Death Place:, Australia
Party:Liberal and Country League
Liberal Party
Spouse:Eunice Greenslade
Children:The Hon. Robert Hill

Charles Murray Hill AM (2 July 1923 – 24 March 2003), generally known as Murray Hill, was a real estate agent and politician in the State of South Australia.

Biography

Hill was born in Glenelg, South Australia, a son of Theodore Charles Hill and his wife Heloise Margery Hill (née Winterbottom); later at Millswood Estate. He enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy in 1941 and served as a seaman during World War II. In 1946 he established Murray Hill & Co., real estate agents, with offices in Grenfell Street.[1]

In 1972 after the alleged murder of University of Adelaide law lecturer Dr George Duncan at a known gay beat at the hands of police officers, and the significant public outrage that followed, Hill proceeded to introduce a private member's bill, with implicit support from the Labor Party, on 26 July 1972 to amend the Criminal Law Consolidation Act that criminalised homosexuality, thus being the first serious attempt to decriminalise homosexuality in Australia.[2] [3] While Hill's amendment was assented to on 9 November 1972, a further amendment weakened it to only allow a legal defense for homosexual acts committed in private. Labor member Peter Duncan went further however when, following an unsuccessful attempt to strengthen Hill's bill in 1973, introduced on 27 August 1975 an unaltered bill to the parliament, which was defeated twice and then reintroduced a third time before passing, making South Australia the first Australian State to fully decriminalise homosexuality.[4]

He served as Minister for Transport, Local Government and Roads from April 1968 to June 1970, then as Minister for Arts, Local Government and Housing from September 1979 to November 1982. He retired in July 1988.[5] In the 1990 Australia Day honours list, Hill was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for "service to the South Australian Parliament and to the community."[6]

Family

He married Eunice Greenslade of Colonel Light Gardens on 21 June 1944.

His son, Robert Hill, was a federal MP and Minister for Defence.[7]

References

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Notes and References

  1. News: 12 February 1946 . Advertising . 8 . . 19 December 2014 . Trove.
  2. Web site: Altman. Dennis. From a drowning to a celebration. Inside Story. 16 March 2015. 11 December 2012.
  3. Web site: This Day Tonight: Violent death at gay beat in Adelaide triggers homosexual law reform. abc/archives/80days. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 16 March 2015. Video. 19 July 1972.
  4. Web site: The Radical Dream: Social Reform in South Australia > Gay Rights. SA Memory. May 2007. Government of South Australia. 16 March 2015.
  5. 2538. Hon Charles (Murray) Murray Hill AM. yes. 25 November 2022.
  6. Australia Day 1990 Honours. Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. 26 January 1990. S 17. 4. 16 March 2015. 3 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160303234640/http://www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/honours/AD90.pdf. dead.
  7. News: Hill defends his record . The Age . 31 July 2004 . 20 December 2014 . Wroe, David . Debelle, Penelope . amp .