Keith Dowding

Background

He was born to John McCallum Dowding and Margaret Katherine Welch.

Career

He re-enrolled as a private and worked in the Japanese language division of the army. Following a period as minister in Murrumbeena, he worked in Scotland with George MacLeod. Marjorie died during this period, survived by the couple"s eight-year-old son, Peter.

The couple settled in Woollahra, where the Dowding manse became a central meeting place for the Australian Labor Party"s left faction, including Les Haylen, Eddie Ward and H. V. Evatt.

Dowding was also involved in the Petrov Affair, becoming the confidant and spiritual advisor of Alan Dalziel, one of Evatt"s staffers who was accused of being a Soviet spy. Following Dalziel"s acquittal, Dowding moved to Perth, becoming minister at Ross Memorial Church.

He ran as the Labor candidate for Swan in 1958, but by 1961 his views were outside the Labor mainstream and he was expelled from the party in 1962 for opposing the White Australia policy. Dowding was later readmitted to the Labor Party, becoming its senior Washington vice-president and a life member.

He was also readmitted to the Returned Services League, which had expelled him in 1953 for "alleged communist leanings".

He died in 2008.

Achievements

• He was a campaigner for a wide variety of causes, serving as president of the Western Australian Council for Civil Liberties, convener of People for Nuclear Disarmament, president of the Western Australian branch of Amnesty International, founder of Freedom from Hunger in Washington, chairman of the Refugee Task Force and West Australians for Racial Equality, and national vice-president of the United Nations Association of Australia.