Stephen Edward Calder was born on 10 August 1916 in Melbourne, son of H Calder of Toorak.  He was educated at the Church of England Grammar School in Melbourne and later married Daphne Campbell, daughter of V Campbell of Orange, NSW.
 
From 1932 to 1939 Mr Calder was a member of the Royal Australian Artillery.  He worked in the ES & A Bank from 1935 to 1939.  On 31 March 1941 Mr Calder joined the RAAF as a Pilot Officer.  He later became a Flying Officer and then a Flight Lieutenant.  He was in Squadrons 182 and 247 flying Typhoons and served in Canada and the United Kingdom gaining a DFC.  

He was demobilised on 19 March 1945 and in 1946 he joined Connellan Airways as their senior pilot in the Northern Territory.  Mr Calder retained this post until 1947 when he became Station Manager on Singleton Station in the Northern Territory until 1949.  In 1951 until 1959 he managed Argadargada Station in the Northern Territory.  From 1956 to 1966 he was Director of Connellan Airways Ltd.  He ran the Oasis Motel and Service Station in Alice Springs from 1962.  He was also a member of the Centralian Pastoralists Association and a member of the Northern Territory Reserve Board. 

In 1966 Calder became Country Party member of the House of
Representatives for the Northern Territory.  He was a member of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs (CA 716) from 12 August 1969 until 2 November 1972 and served on the House of Representatives Select Committee on Wildlife Conservation (CA 1909) from 14 May 1970 until 26 October 1972.  During June and July 1970 he was a member of the Parliamentary Mission to Japan and Korea in February and March 1972. From 11 May until 2 November 1972 he was a member of the House of Representatives Select Committee on Road Safety.
 
Calder became a member of the Joint Committee on the Northern Territory on 11 September 1973, serving on this committee until the double dissolution of 11 November 1975.  In 1976 he was a member of the Joint Select Committee on Aboriginal Land Rights in the Northern Territory from 9 February.  Calder served as a member of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs from 17 March 1976 until his retirement from Parliament in 1980.  He was a member of the Joint Statutory Committee on Public Works (CA 707) from 1978 until 1980.

In 1979 Calder announced that he would not seek Country Liberal Party preselection for the next Federal election.  He retired from Parliament after the elections of 18 October 1980 and became an Officer of the Order of the British Empire "for parliamentary service" in the New Year Honours List of January 1981 (Canberra Times December 31, 1980 p 9).

Agency associated with person unregistered

?       -?       : Northern Territory Reserve Board - Member
Jun 1970-Jul 1970: Parliamentary Delegation to South-East Asia -
                   Member
Feb 1972-Mar 1972: Parliamentary Mission to Japan and Korea - Member