Summary heading
Hon Frank Crean
Career within Commonwealth
Francis Daniel Crean was born at Hamilton, Victoria on 28
February 1916. He attended Hamilton School and Hamilton High School, moving
later to Melbourne, where he studied at Melbourne High School. He enrolled at Melbourne University where he
obtained an Arts degree with honours, Bachelor of Commerce and a Diploma of
Public Administration.
In 1934 he became a member of the Victorian Public Service,
in the Taxation Department, and undertook a course of study leading to
accountancy qualifications. The course,
designed to last 2 1/2 years took him 1 1/2 years to complete. At the final examinations of the Federal
Institute of Accountants in 1935 he was placed first in Victoria and second in
Australia. He worked as a tax assessor
for 10 years.
In 1945 he was nominated for the seat of Albert Park in
election for the Victorian Legislative Assembly. On his election he resigned from the Public
Service, but he held the seat only until 1947, when he was defeated. In 1949 he won the State seat of Prahran,
holding it until 1951.
He entered Federal politics with a win in the seat of
Melbourne Ports in 1951, which he has held successfully as at 17 November
1975. In 1955 he became a member of the
executive of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party and in 1956 succeeded Ben
Chifley as Labor's shadow Treasurer.
The elections of 2 December 1972 which brought the Labor
Party into office saw Frank Crean become the Federal Treasurer on 19 December
1972. He remained in that position until 11 December 1974 when he was replaced
as Treasurer by Jim Cairns, but his position immediately prior to this date was
unusual in that the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam had foreshadowed his transfer
to the Ministry for Overseas Trade in a press release dated 21 November
1974. The reason as stated in the press
release was that both Crean and Cairns had legislation before Parliament for
which they were responsible and the transfer could not take place until the end
of the Parliamentary session.
The political crisis which developed during the period
Cairns was Treasurer, concerning the seeking of loans from overseas sources,
the 'loans affair', began two days after Cairns assumed his position, when the
Executive Council Minute authorized the Minister for Minerals and Energy, Rex
Connor to borrow $4,000,000,000.
Subsequently Cairns was dismissed from his position of Deputy Prime
Minister and in the election by the Caucus to fill the vacancy Frank Crean was
elected Deputy Prime Minister on 14 July 1975.
He remained Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Overseas
Trade until 11 November 1975 when the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr,
dismissed the Whitlam Government. He
retired from Federal Parliament on 10 November 1977.
Frank Crean was married to Mary, daughter of the late A E
Finlay on 20 August 1946. There are three children of the marriage, Simon,
David and Stephen (d.1985).
His interests included educational matters and he had been
at one time Chairman of the Council of Adult Education. He played an active part in the preservation
of older areas of Melbourne, especially the suburb of Emerald Hill, close to
his home in Middle Park and chaired the Migrant Resource Centre in Prahran for
over 20 years.
Frank Crean died on 2 December 2008.
Sources
The Australian, 3
December 2008, p3
House of Representatives Hansard, 4 December 2008
http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/,
accessed 11 December 2008
Who’s Who in
Australia, 1974, p 259
Summary heading
Hon Frank Crean
Unregistered links
1956: House of Representatives National Library Inquiry Select
Committee - Member
1958: Australian Delegation to the 47th Conference ofthe Inter- Parliamentary Union, Rio de Janiero -Member
1967: Parliamentary Delegation to the South WestPacific - Member
1968: Australian Parliamentary Mission to the States Bordering
the Indian Ocean - Member
1970: Australian Delegation to the Commonwealth Parliamentary
Association Conference, Canberra -Member
Jun 1972-Jul 1972: Australian Parliamentary Mission to the
United States and Mexico - Member
Mar 1973: Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Twenty, International
Monetary Fund, Washington - Delegate
Apr 1973: Board of the Asia Development Bank - Delegate to meeting
in Philippines