Ben Courtice

The Honourable Ben Courtice
Senator for Queensland
In office 2 September 1937 – 30 June 1962
Personal details
Born	(1881-02-14)14 February 1881 Bundaberg
Died	7 January 1972(1972-01-07) (aged 90) Bundaberg
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Spouse(s)	1) Bertha Demaine 2) Elsie Dora Maud Joyner
Relations	Brian Courtice (nephew)
Occupation	Farmer

Benjamin "Ben" Courtice (14 February 1881 – 7 January 1972) was an Australian politician.

Courtice was born in Bundaberg and was educated at Bundaberg South State School. He left school at twelve to work in the laboratory of the Millaquin sugar refinery at Bundaberg. In 1905 he was involved in the formation of the Bundaberg and District Workers' Union, which later became part of the Australian Workers' Union. He married Bertha Demaine in 1910 and they had a son and three daughters before her death in 1925. Courtice won £90 for winning a foot-race at about the time of his marriage and used it to buy a sugar farm and he subsequently became a member of various sugar growers organisations. In 1936, he married Elsie Dora Maud Joyner.^[1]

Political career

Courtice's older brother Frederick Courtice was a member of the Queensland Legislative Council for the Australian Labor Party, participating in the vote to abolish the Council in 1922.^[2] Ben Courtice was appointed to a casual vacancy in the Australian Senate in 1937 representing the ALP. He was Minister for Trade and Customs in the second Chifley Ministry from November 1946 until Labor's defeat at the 1949 election. He retired from the Senate at the end of his term in June 1962. He died in Bundaberg, survived by the children of his first marriage.^[1] His nephew, Brian Courtice, was later a member of the Australian House of Representatives.

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