Barry Owen Jones was born in Geelong, Victoria on 11 October 1932. He attended Melbourne High School and completed tertiary education at the University of Melbourne receiving Master of Arts (MA) and Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degrees and an Accredited Course of Teacher Training (ACTT).
 
Mr Jones was Chairman of the Young Labor Association of Victoria from 1955 to 1956. He was Australian Labor Party (ALP) candidate for the Federal seats of Isaacs (Vic) in 1955 and 1958 and Bruce (Vic) in 1963.
 
From 1957 to 1967 Mr Jones was employed as a teacher by the Victorian Education Department. In 1968 he was employed as a barrister and solicitor before becoming a lecturer in history at La Trobe
University from 1968 to 1970.
 
In 1972 Mr Jones was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly, a position which he held until his resignation in 1977. During this period he served on many State government and political party committees. He was a member of the Victorian ALP Administrative Committee (1972-1974), the Transport Committee (1974-1977) and the Arts Committee (1974-1977), and was Secretary of the Victorian Parliamentary Labor Party (1977). In Parliament, he was a member of the Joint Select Committees on Osteopathy, Chiropractic and
Naturopathy, and State Development, and of the Standing Library Committee. Mr Jones was a member of the Victorian Opposition Shadow Ministry (ALP) being spokesman for Social Welfare and Aboriginal Affairs (1973-1974) and spokesman for Transport and the Arts
(1974-1977). He also served as a member of the Interim Senate of the State College of Victoria.
 
In 1977 Mr Jones was elected to the Federal House of Representatives as Member for Lalor (Vic). He served in the ALP Opposition Shadow Ministry as spokesman on Science and Technology from November 1980 to March 1983 and as spokesman on Environment and Conservation from January to March 1983. Following the 1983 Federal election, Mr Jones served in the ALP Government as Minister for Science and Technology. The ministerial re-shuffle of December 1984 reduced Mr Jones' portfolio to that of Minister for Science; the area of technology being transferred from his portfolio to that of the Minister for Industry, Technology and Commerce for whom Mr Jones served as Minister Assisting. Following the July 1987 Federal election, under a system of dual administration of portfolios, Mr Jones was Minister for Science and Small Business and, by January 1988, Minister for Science, Customs and Small Business within the portfolio of Industry, Technology and Commerce.
 
During his period in Federal Parliament, Mr Jones has served on a number of committees. In 1978 he was a member of the House of Representatives House Committee and the Joint Parliamentary Statutory Committee on the Broadcasting of Parliamentary Proceedings. He served on the Parliamentary Joint Committee of Public Accounts (1978-1980), the House of Representatives Library Committee (1978-1983), the House of Representatives Committee on Privileges (1980-1983), Mr Speaker's Committee on Parliament (1980-1983), and the Joint Select Committee on Parliamentary Privilege (1982-1984).  

Mr Jones also attended several International Conferences of Science Ministers between 1983 and 1987 and was Chairman of the 1987 OECD meeting of Science Ministers in Paris.
 
Mr Jones is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRSA), London and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Science by Macquarie University in May 1988.
 
He has written extensively and his publications include:
 
 "Decades of Decision 1860 - a compendium of modern history", Sydney:  Horwitz, 1965
 
 "The Penalty is Death: capital punishment in the twentieth century",  (editor) Melbourne: Sun Books, 1968
 
 "Age of Apocalypse: compendium of history 1860 to the present day",  South Melbourne: Macmillan, 1975
 
 "Joseph II: enlightment in politics", West Melbourne: Victorian  Historical Association, 1978
 
 "The Challenge of Post Industrialism", 1978
 
 "The Macmillan Dictionary of Biography" (with M V Dixon),
 Adelaide: Mary Martin, 1981
 
 "Sleepers, Wake!: technology and the future of work", Melbourne:  Oxford University Press, 1982
 
 "Managing our Opportunities: a selection of speeches", 1984
 
 "Living by our Wits", Canberra: AGPS, 1986
 
Mr Jones came to public prominence prior to his political career as Australian Quiz Champion from 1960 to 1968; and was Scandinavian Quiz Champion in 1967. Mr Jones was involved in radio broadcasting between 1967 and 1968 with Melbourne radio station 3DB. He has also shown a sustained interest in human rights issues through involvement as Secretary in the Victorian Anti-Hanging Council (1962-1975) and as Chairperson of the Amnesty International Australia Parliamentary Group (1980).
 
 
SOURCES:
 
1. Debrett's Handbook, 1985, p. 482
2. Parliamentary Handbook, 1986 p. 130-131
3. Who's Who in Australia, 1988, p. 482