predecessor parliament successor birth_place constituency_mp death_date death_place children party nationality birth_date term_start spouse birthname article_title term_end name
al grassby new south wales adrian cruickshank cessnock , new south wales murrumbidgee 16 june 2011 wagga wagga , new south wales 5 australian labor party australian 19 january 1917 1970 valerie alan robert lindsay gordon lin gordon
 24 march 1984 lin gordon
lin gordon

alan robert lindsay `` lin '' gordon -lrb- 19 january 1917 -- 16 june 2011 -rrb- was an australian politician .
he was the labor member for murrumbidgee in the new south wales legislative assembly from 1970 to 1984 .
he was minister for conservation and water resources from 1976 to 1981 -lrb- with conservation replaced by lands and forests in 1980 -rrb- , minister for local government and lands from 1981 to 1984 , and minister for lands and ports for a few months in 1984 .
gordon was born in cessnock to baker david irvine gordon and mary mildred cleary .
he was educated at government schools in cessnock and after graduating was apprenticed to a pharmacy .
he attended the university of sydney , graduating in 1945 .
on 6 november 1943 he married valerie merle webber , with whom he had five children .
he subsequently owned a pharmacy , and also a trotting stud near leeton .
a roman catholic , he joined the australian labor party in 1962 .
in 1965 , he was elected to leeton shire council , where he served until 1970 -lrb- including a year as president , 1969 -- 1970 -rrb- .
when al grassby , labor member for murrumbidgee , resigned in 1969 to contest the federal seat of riverina , gordon was selected as the labor candidate for the resulting by-election , which took place early in 1970 .
he easily defeated his liberal and country party opponents .
in 1976 , he was appointed to the ministry , holding the conservation and water resources portfolios .
he briefly served as acting minister for health in 1977 , for local government in 1978 and for corrective services in 1979 .
in 1980 the conservation portfolio was split into lands and forests , both of which were retained by gordon .
in 1981 his forests and water resources portfolios were exchanged for local government , which in turn was exchanged for ports in 1984 .
gordon retired in 1984 ; his seat was won by national party candidate adrian cruickshank in his absence .
gordon died at his wagga wagga home on 16 june 2011 .
