Summary

Peter Roylance Delamothe (BM, BSc) was born in Brisbane on 29 June 1906 and died in London in October 1973. Educated at Mount Carmel College, Charters Towers and Sydney University, he served as a junior and senior resident at Sydney Hospital, and was appointed Superintendent of Collinsville Hospital in 1932. During World War II he served in the RAAF, rising to command of a base hospital. In 1946 he became Mayor of Bowen and chairman of the North Queensland Local Authorities Association, and served in these capacities until 1958. In 1960 he was elected a Member of the Legislative Assembly when he won the seat of Bowen for the Liberal Party. He was appointed Justice Minister and Attorney-General in 1963, a post he held until 1971 when he became Queensland Agent-General in London (thus being associated with the inaugural negotiations of the International Sugar Agreement).

He is accredited with improved trade training and educational facilities for prisoners in Queensland prisons, pioneering the weekend detention and release to work schemes, the establishment to the Law Reform Commission and the Legal Aid Bureau, and drafting an "Invasion of Privacy Act" for consideration by the Federal Government, designed to control the activities of credit bureaus and prevent the use of bugging and listening devices. He was also responsible for a major review of Queensland's liquor laws. His work during the 1958 cyclone that wrecked Bowen earned him an OBE in the Queen's Honours list. An excellent athlete in his youth, he remained a keen sportsman all his life.

The material in this collection is part of the research done by Lady Delamothe for the book The Delamothe Story.