{{Short description|Australian politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}} {{Use Australian English|date=January 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | honorific_suffix = | image = JockNelson1959.jpg | office = Administrator of the Northern Territory | predecessor = Fred Chaney Sr. | successor = John England | term_start = 10 December 1973 | term_end = 12 November 1975 | constituency_MP3 = Northern Territory | parliament3 = Australian | predecessor3 = Adair Blain | successor3 = Sam Calder | term_start3 = 10 December 1949 | term_end3 = 31 October 1966 | office2 = Mayor of Alice Springs | predecessor2 = ''office established'' | successor2 = Brian Martin | term_start2 = 1 July 1971 | term_end2 = 8 December 1973 | birth_name = John Norman Nelson | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1908|5|28}} | birth_place = Bundaberg, Queensland | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1991|6|20|1908|5|28}} | death_place = Alice Springs, Northern Territory | spouse = Margaret Caroline Nelson (nee Bloomfield) | party = Labor | relations = | children = | alma_mater = | occupation = Pastoralist | profession = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''John Norman Nelson''' (28 May 1908 – 20 June 1991) was an Australian politician in the Australian Labor Party. He served in federal government, in the Australian House of Representatives, from 1949 until 1966.

==Early life and education== Born in Bundaberg, Queensland on 28 May 1908, John Norman Nelson was the son of politician Harold Nelson,<ref>[http://www.nt.gov.au/administrator/pdf/cv/1973_nelson.pdf ''John Norman “Jock” Nelson''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110402192912/http://www.nt.gov.au/administrator/pdf/cv/1973_nelson.pdf |date=2 April 2011 }}. Northern Territory Government - Administrators. Retrieved 2011-12-02.</ref> a staunch trade unionist who had held the NT federal seat, first as an independent, and then Labor.<ref name=wright2024/>

He was educated at state schools in Darwin, Northern Territory.{{citation needed|date=January 2026}}

==Early career== Nelson first became a jackeroo and goldminer, and later a bore contractor at Alice Springs, Northern Territory.<ref name=wright2024/>

After serving in the military during World War II from 1942 to 1945, he became a pastoralist.{{citation needed|date=January 2026}}

==Political career== In 1949, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for Northern Territory,<ref name=wright2024/> defeating the sitting independent, Adair Blain. At this time, the member for Northern Territory could only vote on matters relating to the Territory itself.{{citation needed|date=January 2026}}

Nelson was selected to sit on the Parliamentary Select Committee on Aboriginal Voting Rights in 1961, although he had shown no interest in Aboriginal affairs or connections with Aboriginal people.<ref name=wright2024>{{cite book | last=Wright | first=Clare|author-link = Clare Wright | title=Näku Dhäruk: The Bark Petitions: How the People of Yirrkala Changed the course of Australian democracy | publisher=Text Publishing Company | date=1 October 2024 | isbn=978-1-922330-86-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jRG00AEACAAJ|page=153,159–60, 351–5}}</ref> In March 1963, however, he did question the Minister for Territories (Paul Hasluck), about the granting of mining leases to Australian and French interests (the latter being GOMINCO) on the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land, the land of the Yolngu people. In this he was supported by Gordon Bryant. However, Hasluck responded that Cecil Gribble (Methodist Overseas Mission secretary) had agreed to the measures being taken, such as extra royalties being paid to the people However, the people of Yirrkala mission were not at all satisfied with the lack of consultation about using their land for mining bauxite, and created the Yirrkala bark petitions to be presented to the Australian Parliament. On 14 August 1963, Nelson presented the first of these petitions to the House of Representatives, which was widely covered by the press. A photograph of him holding up the petition in his office before presenting it appeared in ''The Canberra Times''.<ref name=wright2024/> [[File:Govers_003.tif|thumb|Jock Nelson at Memorial Club, Alice Springs, c. 1960]] In the November 1963 federal election, Nelson was re-elected unopposed, the last occasion when a member was returned to the House of Representatives in this fashion.{{citation needed|date=January 2026}} He retired in 1966, an occasion used by the Country Party to take the seat.{{citation needed|date=January 2026}}

==Later life and death== Nelson returned to pastoralism and served as the first Mayor of Alice Springs (1971-1973), before he stepped down<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.alicesprings.nt.gov.au/council/council-history/first-council-1971-1974|title=First Council 1971-1974|date=2014-03-17|website= Alice Springs Town Council | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117083452/http://www.alicesprings.nt.gov.au/council/council-history/first-council-1971-1974| archive-date= 17 Nov 2019}}</ref> to become the Administrator of the Northern Territory (1973–1975). He died on 20 June 1991.<ref name=Psephos>{{cite web|last=Carr |first=Adam |title=Australian Election Archive |work=Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive |url=http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia |year=2008 |access-date=2008-11-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070717093439/http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/ |archive-date=17 July 2007 }}</ref>

A local government building centre in Alice Springs is named after him.{{citation needed|date=December 2025}}

==See also== * Darwin Rebellion

==References== {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|au}} {{succession box | title=Member for Northern Territory | before=Adair Blain| after=Sam Calder| years=1949&ndash;1966}} {{s-gov}} {{succession box | title=Administrator of the Northern Territory | before=Fred Chaney Sr.| after=John England| years=1973&ndash;1975}} {{s-end}}

{{Administrators of the Northern Territory}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, John}} Category:1908 births Category:1991 deaths Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Northern Territory Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives Category:Members of the Northern Territory Legislative Council Category:Administrators of the Northern Territory Category:Australian MPs 1949–1951 Category:Australian MPs 1951–1954 Category:Australian MPs 1954–1955 Category:Australian MPs 1955–1958 Category:Australian MPs 1958–1961 Category:Australian MPs 1961–1963 Category:Australian MPs 1963–1966 Category:20th-century mayors of places in Australia Category:Mayors of places in the Northern Territory