Gilbert Chandler

Who was Gilbert Chandler?

Sir Gilbert Lawrence Chandler, CMG, KBE was a Liberal Party of Australia politician who served in the Bolte Ministry in Victoria.

Chandler, a horticulturist, was educated at Scotch College in Melbourne. As a 25-year-old, Chandler played a game for the Hawthorn Football Club in the 1928 VFL season. He became a partner in his family's nursery at The Basin in Bayswater before following his father, Alfred, into politics.

When Alfred Chandler died in 1935, Gilbert won the subsequent by-election and took his place as the United Australia Party representative for Southern Province in the Victorian Legislative Council. In 1935, Chandler also joined the Fern Tree Gully Shire Council, who he would serve as president in 1938 and 1939. He switched to the Liberal Party in 1943.

He was minister without portfolio from 1943 to 1945 and as the chairman Bush Fire Relief committee from 1944 until 1946. When Henry Bolte became premier in 1955, he wanted Chandler as the Education Minister, but due to his horticultural background his requested to be Minister of Agriculture. The son-in-law of former politician Jabez Coon, he served in that position until he retired from parliament in 1973.