{{Short description|Australian politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}} {{Use Australian English|date=September 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = Sir James Killen | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100%|sep=,|AC|KCMG}} | image = Jim Killen 1974 (cropped).jpg | caption = Killen in 1974. | office1 = Father of the House | term_start1 = 1 April 1983 | term_end1 = 15 August 1983 | predecessor1 = Malcolm Fraser | successor1 = Doug Anthony | office2 = Vice-President of the Executive Council<br />Leader of the House | term_start2 = 7 May 1982 | term_end2 = 11 March 1983 | prime_minister2 = Malcolm Fraser | predecessor2 = Sir John Carrick<br />Ian Sinclair | successor2 = Mick Young | office3 = Minister for Defence | term_start3 = 11 November 1975 | term_end3 = 7 May 1982 | prime_minister3 = Malcolm Fraser | predecessor3 = Bill Morrison | successor3 = Ian Sinclair | office4 = Minister for the Navy | term_start4 = 12 November 1969 | term_end4 = 22 March 1971 | prime_minister4 = John Gorton<br />William McMahon | predecessor4 = Bert Kelly | successor4 = Malcolm Mackay | office5 = Member of the Australian Parliament for Moreton | term_start5 = 10 December 1955 | term_end5 = 15 August 1983 | predecessor5 = Josiah Francis | successor5 = Don Cameron | birth_date = 23 November 1925 | birth_place = Dalby, Queensland, Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2007|1|12|1925|11|23}} | death_place = Auchenflower, Queensland, Australia | spouse = Joy Buley<br/>Benise Killen | party = Liberal | children = | education = Brisbane Grammar School | alma_mater = University of Queensland | occupation = | signature = | website = <!--Military service--> | allegiance = {{flagdeco|AUS}} Australia | branch = 23px Royal Australian Air Force | service_years = 1943–1945 | rank = Flight sergeant | unit = | commands = | battles = | mawards = }} '''Sir Denis James "Jim" Killen''', {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100%|sep=,|AC|KCMG}} (23 November 1925 – 12 January 2007) was an Australian politician and a Liberal Party member of the Australian House of Representatives for almost 30 years, 1955 to 1983, representing the Division of Moreton in Queensland. He served as Vice-President of the Executive Council, Minister for Defence and Minister for the Navy during his parliamentary career.
==Education and early career== Killen was born in Dalby, Queensland, son of Mabel Killen, née Sheridan,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20505064 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Brisbane Courier |issue=19,834 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=16 August 1921 |access-date=3 February 2024 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and dentist James Walker Killen, who died 16 January 1928.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21215265 |title=Obituary |newspaper=The Brisbane Courier |issue=21,835 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=19 January 1928 |access-date=3 February 2024 |page=15 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> He was educated at Brisbane Grammar School and the University of Queensland, where he graduated in law. He enlisted for service in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II; he was discharged in 1945 with the rank of flight sergeant. After the war he worked on the land before returning to Brisbane. In 1949 he joined the new Liberal Party of Australia and became the founding president of the Queensland Young Liberals.<ref>{{ cite web | url=http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/killen-sir-denis-james-562 | title=Killen, Sir Denis James (1925–2007) | author=John Farquharson | publisher=Sydney Morning Herald | date= 13 January 2007| access-date=20 October 2013}}</ref>
==Political career== thumb|left|Killen in 1968. In the 1955 election, Killen was elected to the House of Representatives for the Brisbane seat of Moreton, holding the seat until 1983.<ref name="ageobituary" /> He quickly became known as a talented orator but his outspokenness and commitment to causes that Menzies regarded as contrary to Liberal Party principles limited his chances of promotion.
His critics alleged he was associated with the extremist Australian League of Rights, whose director, Eric Dudley Butler, was a notorious anti-Semite, although Killen himself was never accused of anti-Semitism. He was a supporter of Ian Smith's regime in Rhodesia and opposed sanctions against apartheid South Africa.<ref name="australianobit">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Obituary: Sir James Killen |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/obituary-sir-james-killen/news-story/02bfd33928b8bc0ac94f7b64c7f7f804 |work=The Australian |date=2007-01-12 |access-date=2020-11-20}}</ref>
In the 1961 election, Killen narrowly retained his seat, and since Robert Menzies' Liberal government was re-elected with a majority of only two, and with Killen's seat the last to be declared, it was claimed by some that Killen had 'saved' Menzies and his government. Killen claimed that Menzies had phoned him, saying "Killen, you are magnificent!", and that story was widely repeated for many years, but he later confessed he had made it up for the ''Courier-Mail'' to overcome his disappointment at not, in fact, receiving such a call from Menzies.<ref>Gavin Souter, ''Acts of Parliament'', p. 449</ref>
By the late 1960s Killen had somewhat moderated his views, and in the government of John Gorton he served as Minister for the Navy from 1969 to 1971. When William McMahon became Prime Minister, Killen was dropped from the Ministry. After the Liberals lost office to Labor under Gough Whitlam, he served in the Shadow Cabinet under Billy Snedden and Malcolm Fraser from 1972 to 1975, acting as the party spokesman on Education and later Defence. He served as Minister for Defence in the Fraser Government from 1975 to 1982.<ref name="ageobituary">{{cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Sir-James-Killen-honoured-in-Brisbane/2007/01/19/1169095952643.html |title=Sir James Killen honoured in Brisbane |publisher=The Age |date=19 January 2007 |access-date=2007-02-16}}</ref>
During this time he oversaw a major review of the Australian Defence Force and also the military build-up which followed the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. He oversaw the largest single piece of Defence expenditure in Australian history, the purchase of 75 F/A-18 Hornets.
Killen was moved out of Defence in a 1982 reshuffle. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George,<ref>London Gazette: [http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/ViewPDF.aspx?pdf=49009&geotype=London&gpn=33&type=ArchivedSupplementPage&all=&exact=&atleast=&similar= (Supplement) no. 49009, page 33]{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, 11 June 1982</ref> becoming "Sir James Killen KCMG", and appointed Vice-President of the Executive Council, a position he held until the defeat of the Fraser government in 1983 election by Labor under Bob Hawke. He became Father of the House of Representatives in April 1983, and resigned his seat of Moreton in August 1983 (the first Queensland Member of the House of Representatives to resign), and returned to his legal practice. He was a prominent figure at the Brisbane bar through the 1980s and 1990s.
Killen was a prominent monarchist and was elected to the Constitutional Convention in 1998 as an opponent of an Australian republic.<ref>Vizard, Steve, ''Two Weeks in Lilliput: Bear Baiting and Backbiting At the Constitutional Convention'' (Penguin, 1998, {{ISBN|0-14-027983-0}})</ref> In 2004, he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).<ref>{{ cite web | url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1056741 | title= Companion of the Order of Australia | publisher=It's an Honour | access-date=20 October 2013}}</ref>
Killen had a reputation as a great parliamentary wit who developed close friendships with many people on both sides of politics, among them Gough Whitlam, Fred Daly and Barry Cohen. He wrote the preface to Daly's collection of political anecdotes, ''The Politician Who Laughed'' (1982).
==Private life== Killen was married twice. His first marriage was in 1949, to Joy (née Buley), with whom he had three daughters (one of whom predeceased him). Joy Killen died in 2000, and he married his second wife, Benise (née Atherton) the following year.<ref name="australianobit" />
In 1976, Mungo MacCallum published an article in the ''Nation Review'' magazine alleging that Killen was having an extramarital affair with Margaret Guilfoyle, one of his cabinet colleagues. Oblique references to the rumours had also been made in other publications.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P3A0thJbhAAC|title=Inside the Canberra Press Gallery: Life in the Wedding Cake of Old Canberra|author=Rob Chalmers|author-link=Rob Chalmers|year=2011|publisher=ANU Press|isbn=978-1921862373|pages=94–95}}</ref> He and Guilfoyle sued for defamation, and obtained an injunction against further publication.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110831790|title=Killen, Guilfoyle sue|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=23 October 1976 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
Killen died in Brisbane in 2007. Gough Whitlam delivered the eulogy at his state funeral at Brisbane's St. John's Cathedral.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Killen remembered for dedication and wit |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-01-19/killen-remembered-for-dedication-and-wit/2176128 |work=ABC Online |date=2007-01-18 |access-date=2020-11-20}}</ref> Killen was survived by his second wife Benise, his two surviving daughters, and two granddaughters.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=State funeral for Sir James Killen |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/state-funeral-for-sir-james-killen-20070113-gdp8e0.html |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=2007-01-13 |access-date=2020-11-20}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef |before=Bert Kelly}} {{s-ttl |title= Minister for the Navy |years=1969–1971 }} {{s-aft |after=Malcolm Mackay}} {{s-bef |before=Bill Morrison}} {{s-ttl |title= Minister for Defence |years=1975–1982 }} {{s-aft |after=Ian Sinclair}} {{s-bef |before=Sir John Carrick}} {{s-ttl |title= Vice-President of the Executive Council |years=1982–1983 }} {{s-aft |after=Mick Young}} {{s-par|au}} {{s-bef | before=Josiah Francis }} {{s-ttl | title=Member for Moreton | years=1955–1983 }} {{s-aft | after=Don Cameron}} {{s-bef | before=Sir William McMahon}} {{s-ttl | title=Father of the House of Representatives | years=1983}} {{s-aft | after=Doug Anthony }} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Killen, James}} Category:1925 births Category:2007 deaths Category:Australian monarchists Category:Companions of the Order of Australia Category:Australian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Delegates to the Australian Constitutional Convention 1998 Category:Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Moreton Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives Category:Leaders of the Australian House of Representatives Category:Members of the Cabinet of Australia Category:Ministers for defence of Australia Category:20th-century Australian memoirists Category:Royal Australian Air Force airmen Category:Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Category:People from Dalby, Queensland Category:People educated at Brisbane Grammar School Category:Australian MPs 1955–1958 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 Category:Australian MPs 1977–1980 Category:Australian MPs 1980–1983 Category:Australian MPs 1983–1984