Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sadly, the Northern Territory's second Chief Minister, Ian Tuxworth, passed away on 21 January. A state funeral was held yesterday at St Mary's Star of the Sea Cathedral in Darwin. As NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner said in his eulogy yesterday, Ian Tuxworth was one of the key players in the transition to self-government in 1978. We must remember that he and his political colleagues needed to create an executive arm of government from scratch and to build an effective public service. His battles with Canberra were the stuff of legend.

Ian Tuxworth represented the seat of Barkly for 16 years and was influential in the first Northern Territory ministry after self-government. Born in 'the Gong' in 1942, he moved with his family to Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory in 1952. He was educated in a public school at Tennant Creek and went to college in Adelaide, returning to Tennant Creek as a young man. He was one of the driving forces of the construction of the Mary Ann dam north of Tennant Creek and, as Chief Minister, was a very strong advocate for the Territory.

There's no doubt that the Territory would not be where it is today if it were not for the work done early on by people like Ian Tuxworth. Vale Ian Tuxworth, second Chief Minister of the Northern Territory.