Bill Gunn

Who was Bill Gunn?

William Angus Manson Gunn AM was an Australian politician who represented the Queensland Legislative Assembly seat of Somerset from 1972 until 1992. A member of the National Party, he also served as a Minister and Deputy Premier in various Queensland administrations during the 1980s, and was instrumental in establishing the Fitzgerald Inquiry.

Gunn was born in Laidley in the Lockyer Valley west of Brisbane, Queensland, the youngest of seven children to Ewen William Gunn and his wife Rosia. He attended Laidley North Primary School and Gatton High School, and played representative rugby league football for Ipswich in the Bulimba Cup competition. At 21, he joined the Freemasons' Lodge, in which he was heavily involved until the start of his political career.

During World War II, he served in the First Cavalry Mobile Veterinary Service at Gympie, where he developed his knowledge of veterinary practice, which he continued privately after the war. On 12 April 1952, he married Lorna Klibbe, who he had met working in a local cafe. They were to have five children and, ultimately, 17 grandchildren.

On 20 July 1966, Gunn was appointed to a vacancy on the Laidley Shire Council, and on 10 April 1970, he became Chairman of the Shire, a role in which he served until 1973.