Don_Laidlaw
Don Laidlaw
Australian lawyer, businessman, and politician
Donald Hope Laidlaw AO LL.B., B.Litt.(Oxon) (6 August 1923 – 14 April 2009)[1] was a lawyer, businessman, and politician in South Australia.
Laidlaw was educated at St. Peter's College, then studied Law and Literature at Adelaide University and Magdalen College, Oxford.[2] He was called to the bar in 1948.[3]
During World War II he served in the AIF Intelligence Corps as a Japanese interpreter[2] including a brief stint in 1942-1943 at the Loveday Camp in rural South Australia.[4]
Laidlaw was elected as a Liberal candidate to the Legislative Council in July 1975 and served until November 1982.[1][5]
He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 1989 Australia Day Honours for "service to secondary industry, the South Australian Parliament and to the community".[6]
He was a member of the Royal Adelaide Golf Club, The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and served on the boards of numerous boards, including Adelaide Brighton Cement, Quarry Industries, Adelaide Wallaroo Fertilizers, Bennett and Fisher and Johns Perry Ltd.[2]
His father was Lyndley Hope Laidlaw of Victoria Avenue, Unley Park.
He married (Audrey) Vivienne Perry LLB (29 July 1925–14 March 1964), a daughter of Frank Tennyson Perry, on 2 February 1948. Their eldest daughter, Diana Laidlaw, was a noted South Australian politician.
He married again, to Vivienne's sister Margaret Pauline (18 July 1917 – 16 October 2011).[2]
- "Former Member of the Parliament of South Australia". Archived from the original on 11 July 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
- Barnier, Cheryl (ed.) Notable Australians Paul Hamlyn Pty Ltd. Sydney 1978 ISBN 0 86832 0129
- "Students admitted to SA Bar". The News. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 20 December 1948. p. 12. Retrieved 14 December 2014. In the accompanying photograph, Don Laidlaw is next to Don Dunstan.
- "Donald Laidlaw". Loveday Lives. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
- "Donald (Don) Hope Laidlaw AO". Former members of the Parliament of South Australia. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
- "Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) entry for Mr Donald Hope LAIDLAW". Australian Honours Database. Canberra, Australia: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 1 December 2022.