Jim Plowman

Jim Plowman
27th Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
In office 29 May 1979 – 26 April 1982
Preceded by	Sir Kenneth Wheeler
Succeeded by	Tom Edmunds
In office 14 May 1996 – 2 November 1999
Preceded by	John Delzoppo
Succeeded by	Alex Andrianopoulos
Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Evelyn
In office 19 May 1973 – 2 April 1982
Preceded by	Russell Stokes
Succeeded by	Max McDonald
In office 2 March 1985 – 17 September 1999
Preceded by	Max McDonald
Succeeded by	Christine Fyffe
Personal details
Born	Sidney James Plowman (1934-12-13)13 December 1934 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died	3 May 2007(2007-05-03) (aged 72)
Political party	Liberal Party
Spouse	Prudence Sophie Manifold (m. 1970)
Occupation	Farmer and grazier
Military service
Allegiance	Australia
Branch/service	Australian Army
Years of service	1957–1959
Unit	Papua New Guinea Volunteer Rifles

Sidney James Plowman (13 December 1934 – 3 May 2007) was an Australian politician. A Liberal Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Plowman was Speaker of the Assembly on two occasions, from 1979 to 1982 and from 1996 to 1999.

Early life

Plowman was born in Melbourne to Dr Sidney Plowman of Frankston and his wife Marjorie. He was educated at Geelong Grammar School, after which he was an executive trainee at a civil engineering company in Melbourne. After his national service, he moved to Papua New Guinea, where he worked on a coffee plantation and in a timber milling company. He served in the Papua New Guinea Volunteer Rifles, a battalion of Australia's Citizens Military Forces, from 1957 to 1959.

Upon his return to Australia, he worked as a jackaroo in Queensland and New South Wales. He was appointed as overseer of the "Nareen" property in Western Victoria, then owned by future Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. He managed his own family's property at Benalla, before moving to Glenburn in 1964.

Political career

In 1959, Plowman had joined the Benalla branch of the Liberal Party. He entered politics as a councillor on the Yea Shire Council in 1970, also marrying Prudence Manifold that year. Three years later, he was elected to state parliament as member of the Legislative Assembly for Evelyn. In 1979, he was elected Speaker of the Assembly, aged 44, he was the youngest Speaker up to that time. Plowman lost his seat at the 1982 state election, and returned to farming for a time until regaining Evelyn in 1985.

When the Liberals won government under Jeff Kennett in 1992, Plowman became Minister for Energy and Minerals (a portfolio he had held in Kennett's shadow cabinet) and Minister Assisting the Treasurer on State Owned Enterprises. He lost the ministry in a 1996 reshuffle, but was elected Speaker for a second time in May 1996, and served as such until his retirement in 1999.