Manfred Douglas Cross AM (12 August 1929 – 30 January 2024) was an Australian public servant and politician. He was educated at various state schools in Brisbane in Queensland before joining the Queensland public service and later, in 1961, becoming a member of the Australian House of Representatives for the Division of Brisbane.

Born in Brisbane, Cross was the son of Manfred Cross, a telegraphist, and Mary McLennan, a dressmaker.^[1] He went to Rainworth State School in Rainworth in the inner Brisbane suburb of Bardon before attending Brisbane State High School.^[2] He later studied at the University of Queensland before becoming a Queensland state public servant, joining the Queensland Treasury in 1951.

On 11 July 1969, he married Barbara who, like Manfred, had been active in Labor Party circles in Queensland.^[3]

In 1961, Cross was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for the federal parliamentary seat of Brisbane. There was a strong nation-wide swing towards Labor in the 1961 federal election and Cross was elected with a comfortable majority in Brisbane of over 57% of the two-party preferred vote. In the same election, his colleague Bill Hayden, later Leader of the Federal Labor Party and Governor-General, unexpectedly won the nearby seat of Oxley in Ipswich.^{[citation needed]}

Cross and Hayden, both Labor Party backbenchers in the Federal parliament throughout most of the 1960s, shared a small room in Parliament House in Canberra (now known as "Old Parliament House") and were well-known members from Queensland in the parliament.^{[4][timestamp needed]}

Cross held the seat of Brisbane in the 1963, 1966, and 1969 elections when Labor failed to win government. In 1972, Labor leader Gough Whitlam won the election and the formed the first Labor Government in Australia for 23 years. As a backbencher, Cross had taken a close interest in Aboriginal affairs and had hoped to become Minister for Aboriginal Affairs in the Whitlam Government. However, he narrowly failed to win election to the Ministry and his colleague from Victoria, Gordon Bryant, became Minister for Aboriginal Affairs in the government.^{[citation needed]}

From 1989 until 1996, Cross was the Chairman of the Library Board of Queensland.^[7]

In January 1992, Cross was awarded an AM in recognition of his service to the Australian Parliament and to the community. ^[8] He was also awarded the Centenary Medal, for long service as federal member for Brisbane, to local history and to Indigenous rights.^[9]

Cross died on 30 January 2024, at the age of 94.^[10][11][7]