Frank McGuren
{{Short description|Australian politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{Use Australian English|date=January 2016}}
{{Infobox MP
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Frank McGuren
| honorific-suffix = OAM
| image = FrankMcGuren1962.jpg
| constituency_MP = Cowper
| parliament = Australian
| majority =
| predecessor = Earle Page
| successor = Ian Robinson
| term_start = 9 December 1961
| term_end = 30 November 1963
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1909|10|15}}
| birth_place = Grafton, New South Wales, Australia
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1990|6|13|1909|10|5}}
| death_place =
| nationality = Australian
| party = Australian Labor Party
| occupation = Public servant}}
Francis William McGuren, OAM (15 October 1909 – 13 June 1990) was an Australian politician.
Early life and career
Born in Grafton, New South Wales, he was educated at St Augustine's School in Coffs Harbour. He then became a public servant, and was elected to Grafton City Council.
Political career
In 1958, he was the Labor candidate for the seat of Cowper in the Australian House of Representatives, facing former caretaker Prime Minister Earle Page of the Country Party. Page had held the seat since 1919. He was the second-longest-serving federal parliamentarian in Australian history, and had skated to re-election time and again. The 1958 election was no different, and McGuren was soundly defeated.
McGuren sought a rematch in 1961. On paper, he faced very long odds. Cowper appeared to be a reasonably safe seat for Page, with an 11-point swing required for Labor to win it. However, by this time, Page was 81 years old and gravely ill with lung cancer. Although he was too sick to campaign nearly as actively as he had done before, he insisted on fighting his 17th general election anyway.{{Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Bridge|first=Carl|year=1988|id=A110127b|title=Page, Sir Earle Christmas Grafton (1880–1961)|accessdate=19 March 2010}} McGuren led the field on the first count. On the second count, while an independent candidate's preferences flowed mostly to Page, McGuren's first-count lead was large enough for him to be elected by a slim three-point margin – a 13-point swing to the ALP, and one of the largest upsets in Australian political history. Page died 11 days later, without knowing that he had been defeated. McGuren's win was part of a 15-seat swing to Labor which almost brought down the government of Sir Robert Menzies.
However, McGuren's tenure was short-lived. At the 1963 election, he was narrowly defeated by the Country Party's Ian Robinson on the first count, as the Menzies-led Coalition recovered many of the seats it had lost two years earlier.
References
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{{succession box | title=Member for Cowper | before=Earle Page| after=Ian Robinson| years=1961 – 1963}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcguren, Frank}}
Category:Place of death missing
Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia
Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Cowper
Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives
Category:Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia
Category:Australian people of Irish descent
Category:North Sydney Bears players
Category:Australian rugby league players