Standish Michael Keon (2 July 1915[a] – 22 January 1987) was an Australian politician who represented the Australian Labor Party in the Federal Parliament from 1949 to 1955, having served previously in the State Parliament of Victoria.[1]
Early life
He was the third surviving son of Australian-born parents, Philip Tobyn Keon, a lorry driver, and his wife, Jane (née Scott). His Christian names were registered as Horace Stanley; Horace being the name of a brother who had died the previous year. He attended Roman Catholic schools in East Melbourne and Richmond, and later won a scholarship to attend Xavier College, but couldn't attend due to reduced family circumstances, which compelled him to start working at the age of 12.[2]
Political career
Keon's November 1945 election to the electoral district of Richmond in the Victorian Parliament followed a bitter pre-selection contest between supporters of the political machine of John Wren, on one hand, and the "Catholic Social Studies Movement" of B. A. Santamaria, on the other.[3]
Keon was narrowly defeated in Yarra by the Labor candidate, Jim Cairns; all of the other Labor defectors were defeated as well.[6] He made four subsequent but unsuccessful attempts to vanquish Cairns at succeeding federal elections. He eventually had a spectacular falling-out with his controversial one-time ally Santamaria.[2] Keon also unsuccessfully contested a 1978 state by-election in Ballarat Province for the DLP.[7]
Notes
^The Parliament of Victoria gives his date of birth as 2 July 1915,[1] while the Australian Dictionary of Biography gives it as 3 July 1913.[2]
^Ainsley Symons, 'Primary Elections and the ALP' (2013) in Recorder (Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, Melbourne Branch), No. 276, February, pg. 5; accessed 18 September 2014.
^Manne, R. (1987) The Petrov Affair, Text Press, Melbourne.
^"Australian Political Chronicle, January-June 1955". Australian Journal of Politics and History. 1 (1): 100. 1955.
Macintyre, Stuart; Strangio, Paul (2004). "'Young, Ambitious and Eager': Stan Keon and the Victorian Public Service Association". Labour History (87). Liverpool University Press: 167–186. doi:10.2307/27516004.