Age, Biography and Wiki

Rex Connor was born on 26 January, 1907 in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, is an Australian politician. Discover Rex Connor's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 70 years old?

Popular As N/A
Occupation Car dealer, farmer
Age 70 years old
Zodiac Sign Aquarius
Born 26 January 1907
Birthday 26 January
Birthplace Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
Date of death 22 August, 1977
Died Place Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Nationality Australia

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 26 January. He is a member of famous politician with the age 70 years old group.

Rex Connor Height, Weight & Measurements

At 70 years old, Rex Connor height not available right now. We will update Rex Connor's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Physical Status
Height Not Available
Weight Not Available
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Dating & Relationship status

He is currently single. He is not dating anyone. We don't have much information about He's past relationship and any previous engaged. According to our Database, He has no children.

Family
Parents Not Available
Wife Not Available
Sibling Not Available
Children Three sons

Rex Connor Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Rex Connor worth at the age of 70 years old? Rex Connor’s income source is mostly from being a successful politician. He is from Australia. We have estimated Rex Connor's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income politician

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Timeline

1907

Reginald Francis Xavier "Rex" Connor (26 January 1907 – 22 August 1977) was an Australian politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1963 until he died in 1977, representing the Labor Party.

1908

He kept his real age a secret (several obituarists assumed that he had actually been born no earlier than 1908).

After an incident in which he ripped a clock off a wall in Parliament House and threw it across the room in a rage, he was unofficially known as "The Strangler".

1925

Due to his father's death in 1925, he gave up his intention of becoming an analytical chemist and became an articled clerk.

He qualified in law but was twice rejected for registration as a solicitor, the result of his dismissal by his former employer.

Instead, he went into business as a car dealer and later took up farming.

1931

In 1931 he married Amelia Searl.

1938

He served on the Wollongong City Council from 1938 to 1945, and then in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1950 to 1963.

From 1938 to 1945 he was an Alderman on the Wollongong City Council.

1940

In 1940, when the NSW ALP was split into three factions, Connor unsuccessfully contested the federal seat of Werriwa for the so-called "Hughes-Evans Labor Party", the left-wing faction which had split from the recently reunified ALP in NSW, led by William (Bill) McKell.

Subsequently, some members of the State Labor Party joined the Communist Party of Australia, and some have been shown to have held "dual tickets" throughout the period.

1941

He remained in the ALP when most of the Hughes-Evans faction were expelled in 1941.

1950

In 1950 Connor was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for the seat of Wollongong-Kembla, where he served until 1963.

1961

He was partly responsible for the introduction of the state's Clean Air Act 1961.

Connor remained a backbencher reportedly as he was not a supporter of the dominant Catholic right-wing of the NSW ALP.

1963

In 1963 Connor quit state politics and was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the Wollongong-based seat of Cunningham at the 1963 election.

In Canberra, Connor developed a reputation as an eccentric.

A large, shabbily dressed man who always wore a hat long after hats had gone out of fashion, Connor seldom spoke in the House and never spoke to journalists.

1972

He was the Minister for Minerals and Energy in the Whitlam government from 1972 to 1975.

Connor was born in Wollongong, New South Wales.

After entering federal politics, Connor became an ally of Gough Whitlam, who appointed him to cabinet when Labor won the 1972 election.

As Minister for Minerals and Energy, he was noted for his strident economic nationalism.

However, Connor is best known as the central figure in the "loans affair", which arose from his attempts to secure petrodollar loans from Middle Eastern financiers.

At the 1972 election, Labor came to power under Gough Whitlam, and Connor was elected to the front-bench and appointed Minister for Minerals and Energy.

In this portfolio, he sought to develop an Australian-controlled mining and energy sector, one not controlled by the mining companies he disliked.

Among his plans were a national energy grid and a gas pipe-line across Australia from the North West Shelf gas fields to the cities of the south-east.

He liked to recite a piece of poetry by Sam Walter Foss:

1973

Connor's economic nationalism was popular with the Labor rank-and-file, and the 1973 oil crisis seemed to many to be a vindication of his views.

1974

After the 1974 election he topped the Caucus ballot for the second Whitlam ministry.

But the flood of petrodollars which accompanied the energy crisis proved to be Connor's undoing.

During 1974 Connor sought to bypass the usual loan raising processes and raise money in the Middle East through an intermediary, a mysterious Pakistani banker called Tirath Khemlani.

1975

His resignation from cabinet in October 1975 precipitated the constitutional crisis which resulted in Whitlam's dismissal a month later.

Because of strong opposition from the Treasury and the Attorney-General's Department about the legality of the loan (and about Khemlani's general bona fides), Cabinet decided in May 1975 that only the Treasurer, not Connor, was authorised to negotiate foreign loans in the name of the Australian government.

Nevertheless, Connor went on negotiating through Khemlani for a huge petrodollar loan for his various development projects, confident that if he succeeded no-one would blame him, and if he failed no-one would know.

The Opposition proclaimed the Loans Affair a "reprehensible circumstance", which justified the blocking of supply in the Senate, leading to the dismissal of the Whitlam government a few weeks later by Governor-General, Sir John Kerr.

The journalist Paul Kelly wrote in his book November 1975: "It was the national interest that drove Rex Connor. He can be criticised for his naivety and poor judgement. But there is no charge against Connor's integrity... The Opposition implied in the lobbies that ministers were chasing personal gain. There is no evidence for this."

1977

Connor died as the sitting member for the Division of Cunningham, precipitating the 1977 Cunningham by-election.

Connor was born in Wollongong, New South Wales, where he lived all his life and where he was represented in the New South Wales and Australian Parliaments.

Descended from Irish Catholics, he was educated at state schools, including Wollongong High School, of which he graduated as dux, despite contracting pneumonia in his final year.

1983

Nevertheless, by the time Labor returned to office in 1983, Connor's economic nationalism and dreams of massive state investment in energy projects had been totally rejected.