Sir John GortonPrint Page

A monument commemorates former Prime Minister Sir John Grey Gorton, who lived near Kangaroo Lake after his marriage in 1935 taking over his father's property "Mystic Park." 

John Gorton was elected to the Senate in 1949 as a senator for the state of Victoria. He entered the Menzies ministry in 1958 as Minister for the Navy, a position he held until 1963. He was subsequently Minister for Works (1963–67), Minister for the Interior (1963–64) and Minister for Education and Science (1966–68) in the governments of Menzies and Holt. After Harold Holt disappeared in late 1967, Gorton became leader of the Liberal Party. He was sworn in as Prime Minister in January 1968. On becoming party leader he transferred to the House of Representatives, winning a by-election for Holt's former seat of Higgins.

John Gorton was Prime Minister of Australia from 1968 to 1971, when he was replaced as party leader by William McMahon.

Gorton resigned from the Liberal Party on 23 May 1975, sitting as an independent in the House of Representatives until the end of the parliamentary term. He contested the 1975 elections as an independent senator for the ACT, but failed to win a seat.

John Gorton was appointed a member of the Privy Council and in 1971 a Companion of Honour. He was knighted in 1977, and appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1988.

John Gorton died in May 2002.

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