{{Short description|Australian politician (1912–1997)}} {{for-multi|the jazz musician and bandleader|Bert Kelly (jazz musician)|other people}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = Bert Kelly | honorific_suffix = CMG | image = Bert Kelly 1974 (cropped).jpg | caption = Kelly in 1974 | office = Minister for the Navy | prime_minister = John Gorton | predecessor = Don Chipp | successor = Jim Killen | term_start = 28 February 1968 | term_end = 12 November 1969 | office2 = Minister for Works | prime_minister2 = Harold Holt<br/>John McEwen<br/>John Gorton | predecessor2 = John Gorton | successor2 = Reg Wright | term_start2 = 28 February 1967 | term_end2 = 28 February 1968 | constituency_MP3 = Wakefield | parliament3 = Australian | predecessor3 = Philip McBride | successor3 = Geoffrey Giles | term_start3 = 22 November 1958 | term_end3 = 10 November 1977 | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1912|6|22}} | birth_place = Riverton, South Australia, Australia | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1997|1|17|1912|6|22}} | death_place = Myrtle Bank, South Australia, Australia | spouse = {{marriage|Lorna Hill|1936}} | party = Liberal | relations = Robert Kelly (grandfather) | children = | education = Prince Alfred College | occupation = Farmer | profession = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Charles Robert "Bert" Kelly''' {{post-nominals|country=AUS|CMG}} (22 June 1912 – 17 January 1997) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Liberal Party and was an influential campaigner for free trade and the elimination of tariffs. He held ministerial office under Harold Holt and John Gorton as Minister for Navy (1967–1968) and Minister for Works (1968–1969). He represented the South Australian seat of Wakefield in the House of Representatives from 1958 to 1977.
==Early life== Kelly was born on 22 June 1912 in Riverton, South Australia. He was the son of Ada May (née Dawson) and William Stanley Kelly. His grandfather Robert Kelly had been a member of parliament in the 1890s.<ref name=adb>{{cite news|url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kelly-charles-robert-bert-32503|title=Charles Robert (Bert) Kelly (1912–1997)|first=Baden|last=Teague|authorlink=Baden Teague|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography}}</ref>
Kelly was raised on his father's farming property "Merrindie" near Tarlee. He attended the local public school and then boarded at Prince Alfred College in Adelaide from 1925 to 1929. After leaving school he returned to the family farm.<ref name=adb/> As W. S. Kelly and Sons, he and his father bred prize-winning Dorset Horn sheep,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/58761524|title=Dorset Ram Imported: Noted South Australian Purchase|newspaper=Sunday Times|location=Perth|date=26 January 1936}}</ref> including championship honours at the Melbourne Royal Show.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/224934761|title=South Australian Dorset Horn|newspaper=Weekly Times|location=Melbourne|date=8 January 1938}}</ref> In 1942, Kelly listed in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and undertook air crew training. He subsequently transferred to the Air Force Reserve in order to remain in South Australia.<ref name=adb/>
In 1951, Kelly was awarded a Nuffield Fellowship to study farming in the United Kingdom.<ref name=gc>{{Cite web | last = Chapman | first = Grant | authorlink = Grant Chapman | title = Condolences: Kelly, Hon. Charles Robert, CMG | work = Hansard | publisher = Parliament of Australia | date = 5 February 1997 | url = http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?ID=750046&TABLE=HANSARDS | accessdate = 1 February 2008 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110524201530/http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?ID=750046&TABLE=HANSARDS | archivedate = 24 May 2011 | df = dmy-all }}</ref><ref name=jh>{{Cite web | last = Howard | first = John | authorlink = John Howard | title = Condolences: Kelly, Hon. Charles Robert, CMG | work = Hansard | publisher = Parliament of Australia | date = 4 February 1997 | url = http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?ID=1946&TABLE=HANSARDR | accessdate = 31 January 2008 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110524201148/http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?ID=1946&TABLE=HANSARDR | archivedate = 24 May 2011 | df = dmy-all }}</ref><ref name=skml>{{Cite web | title =The Stan Kelly Memorial Lecture | publisher = The Economic Society of Australia (Victoria) | date = 9 August 2007 | url = http://pams.com.au/ECOSOC/AM/Template.cfm?Section=The_Stan_Kelly_Memorial_Lecture&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=28&ContentID=1685 | accessdate = 1 February 2008 }}</ref> He was also appointed to the South Australian Advisory Board on Agriculture, of which his father had also been a member. He was introduced to economic policy by his father, who served on the federal government's Tariff Board in the 1930s and was an advisor to Douglas Copland on agricultural product pricing during World War II.<ref name=adb/>
==Political career== thumb|upright|Kelly in 1964 Along with his family political connections, an early political influence on Kelly was South Australian MP Charles Hawker, whom Kelly later described as a "hero".<ref name=adb/>
Kelly was elected as the Liberal Party member for the House of Representatives seat of Wakefield at the 1958 election. He was a passionate supporter of free trade, when this was very much a minority opinion in Australia. Kelly was Minister for Works from February 1967 to February 1968 in the Holt and Gorton ministries and then Minister for the Navy until November 1969. As navy minister he dealt with the aftermath of the ''Melbourne''–''Evans'' collision in June 1969. His period as minister may have been limited by his free trade views.<ref name=skml/>
After Kelly's departure from the ministry, he wrote a column in ''the Australian Financial Review'', ''Modest Member'', supporting free trade.<ref>{{cite web|last=Colebatch|first=Hal|title=The Modest Member: The Life and Times of Bert Kelly|url=http://www.connorcourt.com/catalog1/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17&products_id=222#.UTFhbuuPjfg|work=connorcourt.com|publisher=Connorcourt Publishing|accessdate=2 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610221711/http://www.connorcourt.com/catalog1/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17&products_id=222#.UTFhbuuPjfg|archive-date=10 June 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> When the seat of Angas was abolished in 1977, its member Geoffrey Giles beat Kelly for preselection for Wakefield.
==Later life== Kelly renamed his column "Modest Farmer" and it was published successively in ''the Australian Financial Review'', ''The Bulletin'' and ''The Australian''. He was invested as a Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1980. Kelly's funeral was attended by former Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and Ray Evans, the former head of Western Mining Corporation and president of the right-wing H. R. Nicholls Society.<ref name=gc/><ref name=jh/><ref name=rh>{{Cite web | last = Hill | first = Robert | authorlink = Robert Hill (Australian ambassador) | title = Condolences: Kelly, Hon. Charles Robert, CMG | work = Hansard | publisher = Parliament of Australia | date = 5 February 1997 | url = http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?ID=750030&TABLE=HANSARDS | accessdate = 1 February 2008 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110524201747/http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?ID=750030&TABLE=HANSARDS | archivedate = 24 May 2011 | df = dmy-all }}</ref>{{blockquote|Bert was opposed to protectionism … because it created a situation in which governments, in the person of ministers or officials, granted arbitrary and capricious favours to some, who were thus greatly enriched, at the expense of others, who were at best impoverished and at worst, ruined.|Ray Evans<ref name=gc/>}}{{blockquote|No private member has had as much influence in changing a major policy of the major parties.|Gough Whitlam<ref name=kb>{{Cite web | last = Beazley | first = Kim | authorlink = Kim Beazley | title = Condolences: Kelly, Hon. Charles Robert, CMG | work = Hansard | publisher = Parliament of Australia | date = 4 February 1997 | url = http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?ID=1950&TABLE=HANSARDR | accessdate = 1 February 2008 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110524201738/http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?ID=1950&TABLE=HANSARDR | archivedate = 24 May 2011 | df = dmy-all }}</ref>}}
==Personal life== In 1936, Kelly married Lorna Hill, with whom he had three sons.<ref name=adb/>
Kelly's grandson Craig Kelly and great grandson Jake Kelly both played Australian rules football in the professional Australian Football League.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{S-start}} {{S-off}} {{S-bef| before= John Gorton }} {{S-ttl| title= Minister for Works | years=1967–68 }} {{S-aft| after= Reg Wright }} {{S-bef| before= Don Chipp }} {{S-ttl| title= Minister for the Navy | years=1968–69 }} {{S-aft| after= James Killen }} {{S-par| au}} {{S-bef| before= Philip McBride }} {{S-ttl| title= Member for Wakefield | years=1958–77}} {{S-aft| after= Geoffrey Giles }} {{S-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Charles Robert}} Category:1912 births Category:1997 deaths Category:Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Wakefield Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives Category:People educated at Prince Alfred College Category:Australian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:South Australian politicians Category:Australian MPs 1958–1961 Category:Australian MPs 1961–1963 Category:Australian MPs 1963–1966 Category:Australian MPs 1966–1969 Category:Australian MPs 1969–1972 Category:Australian MPs 1972–1974 Category:Australian MPs 1974–1975 Category:Australian MPs 1975–1977