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to modify his criticism and in fact he spoke few times and rarely at length during 1930–31. With Nelson thus
effectively muzzled, the Northern Territory was unlikely to see much growth. The electorally more sensitive south
dominated the government’s thinking during the Depression.
He still tried to keep Territory issues before the Parliament but chose those areas that involved little cost and
therefore had more chance of success. Thus, he championed the cause of four Aborigines sentenced to death for a
killing constrained upon them by tribal law. He also spoke out for the Northern Territory’s welfare when the budget
was introduced. With fervour reminiscent of his maiden speech, he slated his own party for its lack of commitment
to mining in the Northern Territory. The case was well documented with comparative figures. He noticed that ‘the
Government is appropriating only 50 Pounds for the development of mining in Central Australia! This is making
a farce of the matter. It would be far better if the estimates contained no such provision at all, and the Government
frankly declared that it did not desire that the mining industry should develop.’
Thus far it has appeared that Harold Nelson played the part of the energetic ambassador for all Territorians, and
that his advocacy was constant, even if somewhat muted during the years of the Labor Government. There does
appear, however, to have been another less complimentary aspect of his character; malice against those whom he
perceived as his enemies, malice which blossomed into bitter attack under parliamentary privilege. Gilruth was a
particular target and Nelson attacked him regularly during his entire parliamentary career.
In 1934, Nelson’s opponent at the polls was the surveyor Adair Macalister Blain. It seems that after 12 years
of federal representation by Nelson, Territorians were again disillusioned. The man who tried ‘to make himself
a big enough nuisance to get something done for the Territory’ had run out of time. In his last speech before
the election recess, Nelson was still hammering issues that he had raised in his maiden speech. The Northern
Territory had certainly developed during those 12 years but not at the rate Territorians had anticipated. Blain’s
campaign speech was a blend of mild criticism of Nelson’s lack of achievement and a restating of the need for
development. The Northern Territory had been ‘shamefully neglected’. He would secure a vote in Parliament and
‘make the representations necessary to secure the prosperity and progress that is rightfully ours’. Although he gave
no indication of how he would achieve what Nelson had not, the voters gave him the seat. The new approach by
the member who was ‘somewhat alarmed at the prospect of making what might be called a maiden speech’ was
no more successful than that of Nelson. Nelson fought his last election campaign, again without success, in 1937.
Once more Blain was returned.
Nelson later moved to Tennant Creek, where he took a prominent role in agitation for more government
services, and then to Alice Springs, where he worked as an agent. He died there of heart disease on 26 April 1947,
survived by his wife and all five children. A son, John Norman Nelson, was to become a member of the House of
Representatives and Administrator of the Northern Territory.
Nelson’s appearance was unimpressive—of medium build, he was quick to put on weight. His spirited speeches
nearly always aroused great passions. Trade unionists often saw him as a hero in their struggle for economic and
political rights while many others viewed him as a dangerous revolutionary. He was certainly as a trade unionist
prepared to threaten violence but for the most part believed in a steady accumulation of gains for working people,
rather than great leaps forward. As a parliamentarian, his real achievement was in bringing before the Australian
public a notion of the hardships and problems that typified Territory life.
D Carment, ‘Nelson, Harold George’, ADB, vol 10, 1986; M Maynard, ‘Harold Nelson: The Parliamentary Years’, Northern Perspective, vol
9, no 2, 1986.
DAVID CARMENT and MURRAY MAYNARD, Vol 1.
NELSON, JOHN NORMAN (JOCK) (1908–1991), bush worker, soldier, contractor, cattleman, agent,
politician and Administrator, was born on 28 May 1908 at Mount Perry, near Bundaberg, Queensland, the son
of Harold George Nelson, an engine driver and later a union official and politician, and his wife Maud Alice,
nee Lawrence. At the age of five, he moved with his family to Pine Creek in the Northern Territory and later to
Darwin. He was educated at the Pine Creek Public School and Darwin Public School before moving in 1926 to
Central Australia, where he obtained employment as a jackeroo.
After varied work on Central Australian cattle and sheep stations, he moved to Tennant Creek in 1934 to join
the search for gold there. In the same year, he married Margaret Caroline Bloomfield, member of the well-known
Central Australian pastoralist family (see Lewis Bloomfield). They later had two daughters. During the period from
1936 until 1942, Nelson worked as a boring contractor and agent in Alice Springs before joining the Australian
Imperial Force, in which he served until 1945 and rose to the rank of Sergeant. After the end of the Second World
War, he acquired ownership or part ownership of three Central Australian cattle stations, Harper Springs, Mount
Skinner and Utopia. He also became an active member of the Northern Territory Development League. At the
first general elections for the Northern Territory Legislative Council on 4 December 1947, he was returned for the
electorate of Stuart, which he held until his election to the federal parliament two years later.
Nelson contested the Northern Territory electorate as an Australian Labor Party candidate at the federal
elections on 10 December 1949. To the surprise of many observers, he defeated the long time incumbent,
A M Blain. This was in spite of Labor’s national defeat at the election and the frustration caused by the Chifley
Labor government’s policies in the Territory. However, as the historian Peter Donovan later concluded, ‘this result
simply underscored the personal, rather than the political nature of politics in the Territory at the time.’
He served as a Member of the House of Representatives until his retirement from parliamentary politics in
- He was a member of the Select Committee on Voting Rights of Aborigines in 1961 and the Select Committee
on the Grievances of the Yirrkala Aborigines, Arnhem Land Reserve, in 1963. Between 1956 and 1966, he was