Brendan Percival Hansen, AM (21 August 1922 – 19 December 1999) was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician. Born in Maryborough, Queensland

Maryborough, Queensland

Maryborough is a city located on the Mary River in South East Queensland, Australia, approximately north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city is serviced by the Bruce Highway, and has a population of approximately 22,000 . It is closely tied to its neighbour city Hervey Bay which is...

, he was educated at Christian Brothers High School before becoming a shipwright loftsman and carpenter.

He was an official with the Federal Shipwrights and Ship Constructers Association and a Maryborough City Councillor

City of Maryborough (Queensland)

The City of Maryborough was a Local Government Area located in the Wide Bay-Burnett region of Queensland, Australia, containing the urban locality of Maryborough as well as the southern half of Fraser Island...

 before entering federal politics. In 1961, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

 as the Labor

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 member for Wide Bay

Division of Wide Bay

The Division of Wide Bay is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election...

, the first time Labor had won the seat since 1915. He held the seat until his defeat in 1974. In 1977, he was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly

Queensland Legislative Assembly

The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...

 as the member for Maryborough

Electoral district of Maryborough

The district of Maryborough is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.The district is centred on the regional city of Maryborough and takes in other surrounding communities....

, a position he held until 1983.

Death

He died in 1999, aged 77, and was posthumously awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for "services to the community".

Legacy

Brendan Percival Hansen was honored with a park in his name in Granville and a government building, The Brendan Hansen Building, in Hervey Bay.

Family

Brendan Hansen married Moira O'Sullivan in 1960 at St Mary's Catholic Church, Maryborough. Moira Hansen was a light opera singer who remains active in the city's arts community. They had eight children, including Mary Hansen

Mary Hansen

Mary Hansen was a guitarist and singer with Stereolab.Born in Maryborough north of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia, Hansen moved to London in the late 1980s and became a backing singer with the Essex-based indie band, The Wolfhounds.She met Stereolab founder Tim Gane when the Wolfhounds played...

 (1966–2002), a singer/musician for the British band, Stereolab

Stereolab

Stereolab are an alternative music band formed in 1990 in London, England. The band originally comprised songwriting team Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier , both of whom remained at the helm across many lineup changes...

.