Edgar Tanner

Last updated

Sir Edgar Stephen Tanner, CBE (10 August 1904 - 21 November 1979) was an Australian sports administrator and Victorian politician. He was a former secretary-general and president of the Australian Olympic Federation and Chairman of the Australian Commonwealth Games Association.

Contents

Personal

Tanner was born on 10 August 1904 at Albany, Western Australia. [1] He was the eldest of four children. [1] He attended All Saints Grammar School, St Kilda and studied commerce at the University of Melbourne. [1] He joined the advertising staff of the Herald and Weekly Times. [1] On 11 June 1938, he married Edna May Ponsonby. [1] He died on 21 November 1979 at North Caulfield and was survived by his wife Edna, daughter Ann and son Ted, a former member of the Victorian Parliament and boxing administrator. [1] [2]

Military career

In 1929, Tanner had been commissioned in the Militia. [1] In November 1941, Tanner was appointed temporary captain in the 2nd Australian Imperial Force. [1] He was a member of the Gull Force. [1] In January 1942, he became prisoner of war after Gull Force was overpowered by the Japanese in Ambon. [2] Whilst a prisoner of war at Hainan, he organised sports events including a running race between Australian and Dutch prisoners. [1] [3]

Political career

In May 1955, Tanner representing the Liberal and Country Party, won the seat of Ripponlea in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. [1] After Tanner was elected a member of parliament, the media questioned his ability to concurrently serve in important Olympic positions including secretary of the Organising Committee of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics as well as a member of Parliament. [4] When Ripponlea was abolished in 1967, he was elected to Caulfield which he held until in retirement in February 1976. [1] Whilst in the parliament, he was chairman of several committees and deputy-speaker from 1970 to 1973. [1] His son Ted was the member for Caulfield from 1979 to 1996.

Sports administration career

Boxing

Tanner won a University of Melbourne blue for boxing and fought in 150 featherweight bouts and lost seven. [1] [3] He was appointed secretary of the Victorian Amateur Boxing and Wrestling Association in the 1930s. [1] He managed Australia's boxing and wrestling team at the 1938 Sydney British Empire Games, Sydney. [1] [3] In 1979, he stepped down as president of the Amateur Boxing Union of Australia, a position that he held for over 20 years. [2]

Olympic Games

In June 1946, Tanner was elected secretary-treasurer Victorian Olympic Council (VOC) [5] This election led to his campaign with Bill Uren, VOC Chairman, for Melbourne to host the 1956 Summer Olympics. [5] Tanner and Uren gained the support of the then Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Sir James Connelly, and Sir Frank Beaurepaire, a former Lord Mayor. [5] Beaurepaire's standing in the Olympic movement is stated as a major factor for the successful Melbourne Olympic bid. [5] [6] Tanner served as the secretary of the Organising Committee of 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. [2] In May 1947, at the Australian Olympic Federation's first meeting since World War II, Tanner was elected secretary-general., [5] a position that he held until 1974. He was General Manager of the Australian team at the 1948 London Olympics. [5] [7] He was president of the Australian Olympic Federation from 1974 to 1977. [2] His presidency came to an end when defeated by Sydney Grange in a ballot in 1977. [5]

Commonwealth Games

He held various positions including Chairman with the Australian Commonwealth Games Association from 1974 to 1977. [8]

Honours

Related Research Articles

John Quick (politician) Australian politician

Sir John QuickLL.D. was an Australian lawyer, politician and judge. He played a prominent role in the movement for Federation and the drafting of the Australian constitution, later writing several works on Australian constitutional law. He began his political career in the Victorian Legislative Assembly (1880–1889) and later won election to the House of Representatives at the first federal election in 1901. He served as Postmaster-General in the third Deakin Government (1909–1910). He lost his seat in 1913 and ended his public service as deputy president of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration (1922–1930).

Australian Olympic Committee National Olympic Committee

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) is the National Olympic Committee responsible for developing, promoting and protecting the Olympic Movement in Australia. The AOC has the exclusive responsibility for the representation of Australia at the Olympic Games, the Youth Olympic Games and at Regional Games patronised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). All National Olympic Committees are constituents of the International Olympic Committee.

New Zealand Olympic Committee

The New Zealand Olympic Committee is both the National Olympic Committee and the Commonwealth Games Association in New Zealand responsible for selecting athletes to represent New Zealand in the Summer and Winter Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games.

Australia at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Sporting event delegation

Australia hosted the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Western Australia, from 22 November to 1 December 1962. It was Australia's seventh appearance at the Commonwealth Games, having competed at every Games since their inception in 1930.

Frank Beaurepaire Australian swimmer, politician and businessman

Sir Francis "Frank" Joseph Edmund Beaurepaire was an Australian distance freestyle swimmer from the 1900s to the 1920s, who won three silver and three bronze medals, from the 1908 Summer Olympics in London to the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Robert Lloyd Peden is an Australian former professional boxer who won the vacant IBF super featherweight title in 2005 by beating Nate Campbell by TKO. Peden was the third person of Aboriginal descent to win a world title, joining super middleweight Anthony Mundine (2003) and bantamweight Lionel Rose (1968).

John Chanter Australian politician

John Moore Chanter was an Australian politician, farmer and commission agent. He was a member of the Protectionist Party, as well as the Australian Labor Party and the Nationalist Party of Australia.

This is a list of members of the Victorian Legislative Council between the elections of 15 June 1940 and 12 June 1943. As half of the Legislative Council's terms expired at each triennial election, half of these members were elected at the 1937 triennial election with terms expiring in 1943, while the other half were elected at the 1940 triennial election with terms expiring in 1946.

The Electoral district of Ripponlea was an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly located in the Melbourne south-east suburb of Ripponlea, Victoria. It was created in 1955 and abolished in 1967.

Edgar Miles Ponsonby "Ted" Tanner is a former Australian politician.

Hugh Richard Weir OBE CBE was an Australian sports administrator and International Olympic Committee member.

Sydney Broadway Grange AO OBE MVO was an Australian sports administrator and former President of the Australian Olympic Federation.

Sir Harold George Alderson, MBE is a former Australian sports administrator including President of the Australian Olympic Federation and Australian British Empire & Commonwealth Games Association.

James Sydney Wallace Eve, MBE was an Australian sports administrator and former Honorary Secretary-Treasurer of the Australian Olympic Federation and Australian Brititish Empire & Commonwealth Games Association.

Archie Lionel Tanner was an Australian politician.

Salvatore "Sam" Coffa, AM, JP is a former Australian weightlifter and long-time sporting administrator. He was also actively involved in community affairs, and was a councillor and mayor of the former City of Hawthorn, Melbourne.

William "Bill" John Robert Young MBE AM was an Australian sports administrator particularly in the sport of cycling. He was Chair of Australian Commonwealth Games Association and managed Australian teams at the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "Tanner, Sir Edgar Stephen (1904–1979)". Sir Edgar Stephen Tanner. Australian National Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Edgar Tanner dead". Canberra Times. 22 November 1979. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Hamilton, John (2 August 1972). "Sir Edgar's worry is a flying start". The Herald: 2.
  4. ↑ "Mr. Tanner is at the crossroads". The Argus. 2 June 1955. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Gordon, Harry (1994). Australia at the Olympics. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press.
  6. ↑ Jobling, Ian (November 1994). "Olympic Proposals and Bids by Australian Cities" (PDF). Sporting Traditions. 11 (1): 37–56.
  7. ↑ "Edgar Tanner Manager". Sporting Globe. 6 March 1948. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  8. ↑ Australian Commonwealth Games Association (2014). Australian team : Glasgow 2014, handbook 23 July - 3 August. Melbourne: Australian Commonwealth Games Association.
  9. 1 2 "Edgar Stephen Tanner". It's An Honour. Archived from the original on 17 June 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  10. ↑ "Life Members". Australian Olympic Committee website. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.