{{Short description|Australian politician (1925–2004)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}} {{Use Australian English|date=January 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Noel Beaton | honorific_suffix = | image = Noel Beaton Mid 1960s.jpg | constituency_MP = Bendigo | parliament = Australian | majority = | predecessor = Percy Clarey | successor = David Kennedy | term_start = 16 July 1960 | term_end = 9 April 1969 | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1925|12|28}} | birth_place = Mooroopna, Victoria | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2004|12|18|1925|12|28}} | death_place = Melbourne, Victoria | spouse = | party = Australian Labor Party | relations = | children = | alma_mater = | occupation = Journalist | profession = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Noel Lawrence Beaton''' (28 December 1925 – 18 December 2004) was an Australian politician. Born in Mooroopna, Victoria, he was educated at state schools and was a volunteer firefighter in his home town,<ref>Mooroopna Fire Brigade records, 1941</ref> before serving in the military from 1945 to 1947, after which he became a sports journalist and broadcaster.
In 1960, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for Bendigo, narrowly winning a by-election for that seat that followed the death of Percy Clarey.<ref>Colin Cleary (1999), Bendigo Labor. The Maintenance of Traditions in a Regional City, Epsom (Victoria), p.147</ref>
Melbourne newspaper The Age later reported that his 133-vote winning margin was probably because of the donkey vote, but his personal following grew steadily "until it reached about 1500 in 1966, a time when Labor's Australia-wide vote was at an all-time low."<ref name="Political spirit goes haunting – The Age">Article, "Political spirit goes haunting", The Age, 20 May 1969.</ref>
During his time in Parliament he became a leading contributor on petrochemical policy,<ref name="Don Whitington 1964 p.141">Don Whitington (1964), The Rulers, Fifteen Years of the Liberals, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, p.141</ref> served as Shadow Minister for Primary Industries, wrote regional development into Labor policy<ref name="Obituary 2005">Obituary, "A Tribute to Noel Beaton", Bendigo Advertiser, 5 January 2005.</ref> and was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War.<ref>{{cite news|title=Tributes flow for Beaton|url=https://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/657112/tributes-flow-forbeaton/|accessdate=2014-02-11|newspaper=Bendigo Advertiser|date=2004-12-22}}</ref> For his achievements, he was widely considered a potential Minister in a Labor government.<ref name="Don Whitington 1964 p.141"/>
As a local MP however, Beaton took greater pride in the many small victories he won for individual residents of his sprawling regional electorate. He was particularly proud of his success in helping save Bendigo's Chinese Joss House. Discovering that elderly members of the Chinese community were still using the derelict building as a place of worship, but had to do so in secret because it was on Defence Department land, he persuaded the department to hand over the land for the benefit of the community. The Joss House was eventually restored and opened to anyone who wanted to worship there or learn about the city's Chinese history.<ref name="Obituary 2005"/>
Beaton retired from parliament on 9 April 1969, and never again held political office. His personal following at the time he retired from politics was such that both Labor and Liberal candidates in the resulting by-election publicly claimed to aspire to being like him.<ref name="Obituary 2005"/> After retiring from political office, Beaton returned to journalism, running the editorial side of regional daily newspaper the Bendigo Advertiser during the early 1970s. In that role, he helped to rescue the city's historic town hall from planned demolition, with a front-page article that caused angry public protests.<ref name="Obituary 2005"/> Beaton died in 2004.<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|accessdate=2008-06-14}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|au}} {{succession box | title=Member for Bendigo | before=Percy Clarey| after=David Kennedy| years=1960–1969}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beaton, Noel}} Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Bendigo Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives Category:1925 births Category:2004 deaths Category:People from Mooroopna Category:Australian MPs 1958–1961 Category:Australian MPs 1961–1963 Category:Australian MPs 1963–1966 Category:Australian MPs 1966–1969