Jack Renshaw

Jack Renshaw was born on 8 August 1909 near Wellington in central New South Wales. His parents were John Ignatius Renshaw and Ann Renshaw (née Reidy). When he was six his parents took up a selection near the town of Binnaway. Five years later his father died in a farm accident, leaving his widow to raise eight children. Following Ann Renshaw's remarriage the family prospered and came to own a fuel depot, stock and station agency and butchery in the town.{{cite encyclopedia |last=Turner |first=Ken |editor-first1= David |editor-last1= Clune |editor-first2= Ken |editor-last2= Turner |encyclopedia= The Premiers of New South Wales, 1856-2005 |title=RENSHAW, John Brophy |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=v5p9Rdj4s2gC&pg=PA333|year=2005 |publisher= The Federation Press |volume=2, 1902-2005 |location=Leichhardt |isbn=1-86287-549-9 |pages=333–347}}

Renshaw was educated at Binnaway Central School, Patrician Brothers at Orange (where he lived with his grandmother), and then Holy Cross College at Ryde in north-western Sydney. After leaving school at the age of 14 he helped to run the family dairy property at Hampden Park, and also helped operate a milk run out of Binnaway.{{Cite NSW Parliament |id=1698 |name=Mr John Brophy Renshaw (1909–1987) |former=Yes |access-date=8 May 2019}}

Renshaw joined the Binnaway branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in 1930, and soon held office in the branch. He also served on the state and federal electorate councils in the area, including as President of the Gwydir Electorate Council from 1939 to 1949. He was active in local government, serving as an councillor (C Riding) in the Coonabarabran Shire Council from 1937 to 1944.{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17430916 |title=COUNTRY SHIRES. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=31,179 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=7 December 1937 |access-date=10 March 2019 |page=9 |via=Trove}} From 1939 to 1941 he was Shire President, becoming the youngest shire president in Australia at the time.{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162229324 |title=Mainly about People |newspaper=Mudgee Guardian and North-western Representative |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=18 December 1939 |access-date=10 March 2019 |page=2 |via=Trove}}{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113044723 |title=CQTTON IN THE WEST |newspaper=Gilgandra Weekly and Castlereagh |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=21 December 1939 |access-date=10 March 2019 |page=6 |via=Trove}} He resigned as Shire President in May 1941 following his election to state Parliament.{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113019872 |title=RESIGNS POSITION |newspaper=Gilgandra Weekly And Castlereagh |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=22 May 1941 |access-date=10 March 2019 |page=3 |via=Trove}} During the late 1930s he also held a position on the Northern Executive of the Wheat Growers' Union. In 1939 he volunteered for service in World War II but was rejected due to a defect in his eyesight.

Renshaw was encouraged to run for state parliament in the local seat of Castlereagh by William Scully, the federal member for Gwydir, after Renshaw had worked as campaign director for him. He was supported by the Premier, William McKell, who realised that Renshaw's strong local identity and links to the farming community would help him in an election. Renshaw stood in the 1941 election, winning the seat from the Country Party member, Alfred Yeo, who had held Castlereagh for the previous nine years. From 1945 to 1950 Renshaw was a member of the central executive of the NSW ALP.

Renshaw was appointed Secretary for Lands in 1950 under Premier James McGirr. Relying upon his strong knowledge of agricultural and rural issues, he aggressively prosecuted the case for Labor's policy of compulsory resumption of large properties so that they could be subdivided. At the time it was believed the land was being under-utilised by land speculators and large agricultural companies and that closer settlement would promote the development of rural districts and solve post-war food shortages. The policy was opposed by the wealthier graziers, represented in part by the Country Party and the United Farmers' Association.

Impressed by his handling of the closer settlement debate, the new Premier Joe Cahill promoted Renshaw to Secretary for Public Works in 1952. He also became Minister for Local Government in 1953, later transferring from Public Works to Minister for Highways in 1956. Renshaw went on to serve as Deputy Premier from 1959 to 1964 (when Bob Heffron was Premier), and Treasurer from 1959 to 1965. He also served as Minister for Lands from 1960 to 1961, Minister for Agriculture from 1961 to 1962 and Minister for Industrial Development and Decentralisation from 1962 to 1965.

File:Jack Renshaw.png

When Heffron retired in April 1964, Renshaw became Premier. This tenure proved to be no more than a stopgap for a party increasingly seen as tired and unfocused after being in office since 1941. Of the 16 members in Renshaw's cabinet, six were aged 65 years or more, and most had been in cabinet during Labor's entire quarter-century run in government.

Renshaw waited as long as he could before calling an election for 1 May 1965. The Liberal leader, Bob Askin, often used the slogan "Twenty-four years of Labor misrule."Dutton, Geoffrey and Harris, Max (eds.), Sir Henry, Bjelke, Don-Baby and Friends (Melbourne: Sun Books, 1971), p. 163. Renshaw found it difficult to connect with urban voters, and his problems in adjusting to the new pressures of television only exacerbated his electoral failings. By contrast, Askin showed substantial skill with the TV medium.

At the election, Labor suffered a nine-seat swing against it. The Coalition garnered the support of two conservative independents, allowing Askin to become Premier. For the first time in 24 years, the ALP was out of office in New South Wales.

With his federal party colleagues having been in opposition since 1949, Renshaw is to date the last Labor Premier who did not encounter a Labor Prime Minister during his time in office.

Renshaw suffered a second and still more severe electoral defeat at the hands of Askin in 1968. He resigned soon after this election, and was succeeded by former Deputy Premier Pat Hills. Nevertheless, Renshaw remained an important figure both in the state parliament and in Labor's ruling circles; he served as Treasurer during the first four years (1976–80) of Neville Wran's administration. After that he was the state's Agent-General in London, holding that office till 1983.

On 12 November 1942 Renshaw married Hilda May Wall, at St Canice's Catholic Church, Elizabeth Bay; by her he had a son. Wall died in April 1964, just weeks before Renshaw was sworn in as Premier. His second wife, whom he married on 11 April 1966 at Holy Cross Catholic Church, Woollahra, was Marjorie (Meg) Mackay née Nolan (who had four children in total: one by Renshaw, three by a previous marriage). He died at the age of 77 in 1987 in the northern Sydney suburb of Northbridge.

In 2022, Catherine Renshaw, who is married to Jack Renshaw's son John, was the unsuccessful ALP candidate for the federal seat of North Sydney.{{cite web | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/federal/2022/guide/nsyd | title=North Sydney - Federal Electorate, Candidates, Results | website=Australian Broadcasting Corporation }}

• In the 1979 Australia Day Honours, Renshaw was named a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).{{Cite web|title=The Honourable John Brophy RENSHAW|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/884448|access-date=2021-07-02|website=It's An Honour}}
• John Renshaw Drive, a section of road in the Hunter Valley, adjoining the Pacific Highway is named in Renshaw's honour.[https://investment.infrastructure.gov.au/projects/117864-21nsw-np John Renshaw Drive] Infrastructure Australia
• John Renshaw Parkway, a section of road in the Warrumbungle National Park, Joining Tooraweenah to Timor road, is named in Renshaw's honour.[https://investment.infrastructure.gov.au/projects/112264-901nsw-np John Renshaw Drive] Infrastructure Australia
• Jack Renshaw Bridge across the Castlereagh River at Gilgandra is named in his honour.

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{{Succession box| title=Member for Castlereagh | before=Alfred Yeo | after=Jim Curran| years=1941{{spaced ndash}}1980}}

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{{Succession box|title=Secretary for Lands|years=1950{{spaced ndash}}1952|before=Bill Sheahan|after=John McGrath|}}

{{Succession box|title=Secretary for Public Works|years=1952{{spaced ndash}}1956|before=Joseph Cahill|after=Frank Hawkins|}}

{{S-bef|before= Joseph Cahill }}

{{S-ttl|title= Minister for Local Government | years = 1953{{spaced ndash}}1959 }}

{{S-aft|rows=2|after= Pat Hills }}

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{{S-ttl|title= Minister for Highways | years = 1956{{spaced ndash}}1959 }}

{{Succession box|title=Deputy Premier of New South Wales|years=1959{{spaced ndash}}1964|before=Bob Heffron|after=Pat Hills|}}

{{S-bef|before= Bob Heffron }}

{{S-ttl|title= Treasurer of New South Wales | years = 1959{{spaced ndash}}1965 }}

{{S-aft|after= Robert Askin }}

{{Succession box|title=Minister for Lands|years=1960{{spaced ndash}}1961|before=John McGrath|after=Keith Compton|}}

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{{S-ttl|title= Minister for Industrial Development and Decentralisation | years = 1962{{spaced ndash}}1965 }}

{{S-aft|after= John Fuller|as=Minister for Decentralisation and Development}}

{{Succession box|title=Premier of New South Wales| before=Bob Heffron|after=Robert Askin| years=1964{{spaced ndash}}1965|}}

{{S-bef|before= Sir Eric Willis }}

{{S-ttl|title= Treasurer of New South Wales | years = 1976{{spaced ndash}}1980 }}

{{S-aft|after= Neville Wran }}

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{{S-bef|rows=2|before= Bob Heffron }}

{{S-ttl|title=Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party (NSW Branch)|years=1959{{spaced ndash}}1964}}

{{S-aft|rows=2|after= Pat Hills }}

{{S-ttl|title=Leader of the Australian Labor Party (NSW Branch)|years=1964{{spaced ndash}}1968}}

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{{s-bef|before= Peter Valkenburg }}

{{s-ttl|title=Agent-General for New South Wales|years=1980{{spaced ndash}}1983}}

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Category:1909 births

Category:1987 deaths

Category: Australian people of Irish descent

Category:Premiers of New South Wales

Category:Deputy premiers of New South Wales

Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

Category:Companions of the Order of Australia

Category:Treasurers of New South Wales

Category:Leaders of the opposition in New South Wales

Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales

Category:20th-century Australian politicians

Category:Agents-General for New South Wales

Category:People educated at Holy Cross College, Ryde

Category:Ministers for agriculture (New South Wales)