Bert Lacey

Who was Bert Lacey?

Robert Herbert "Bert" Lacey was an Australian politician. Born in Maryborough, Victoria, he was educated at state schools and then at Wendouree Agricultural College in Ballarat. He became a construction worker, bush worker and miner, and served in the military in 1918. Having moved to Tasmania, he was an organiser of the state's Australian Workers' Union 1938-1946 and Secretary of the Tasmanian Labor Party 1947-1965. He briefly served as Labor member for Denison in the Tasmanian House of Assembly in 1959. In 1964, he was elected to the Australian Senate as a Labor Senator for Tasmania. He held the seat until his defeat in 1970, effectively by independent Michael Townley. Lacey died in 1984.