Donald Alastair Cameron

The Honourable Donald Cameron OBE
Minister for Health
In office 11 January 1956 – 22 December 1961
Prime Minister	Robert Menzies
Preceded by	Earle Page
Succeeded by	Harrie Wade
Member of the Australian Parliament for Oxley
In office 10 December 1949 – 9 December 1961
Preceded by	New seat
Succeeded by	Bill Hayden
Personal details
Born	(1900-03-17)17 March 1900 Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
Died	5 January 1974(1974-01-05) (aged 73) Chermside, Queensland, Australia
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Rhonda Florence McLean
Military service
Allegiance	Australia
Branch/service	Citizen Military Forces (1936–40) Second Australian Imperial Force (1940–45)
Years of service	1936–1945
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Commands	2/1st Field Ambulance
Battles/wars	Second World War
Awards	Officer of the Order of the British Empire Mentioned in Despatches

Donald Alastair Cameron, OBE (17 March 1900 – 5 January 1974) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Liberal Party and served in federal parliament from 1946 to 1961, representing the Division of Oxley in Queensland. He was a doctor by profession and held ministerial office as Minister for Health in the Menzies government from 1956 to 1961. After losing his seat he served a term as High Commissioner to New Zealand (1962–1965).

Cameron was born in Ipswich, Queensland. He received his education at Ipswich Grammar School and the University of Sydney, where he graduated in arts and medicine. From 1927 to 1933 he was a medical officer at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the Coast Hospital in Sydney. In 1933, he married Rhoda Florence McLean. They settled at Ipswich where he practised medicine until the Second World War, in which he served as a colonel in the Australian Army Medical Corps in the Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre and New Guinea. He was mentioned in despatches and made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1946.^[1]

After the war, Cameron joined the newly formed Liberal Party of Australia and, at the 1949 election, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the new seat of Oxley, based on Ipswich. He was Minister for Health in the Menzies government from 1956 to 1961. He was also appointed minister in charge of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in 1960 following Richard Casey's retirement. At the 1961 election he was unexpectedly defeated by the young Australian Labor Party candidate Bill Hayden.^[1]

After his election defeat, Cameron worked as Commonwealth medical officer in Sydney and was Australia's High Commissioner to New Zealand from 1962 to 1965. He was then a general practitioner in the Brisbane suburb of Nundah.^[2]

Cameron died in the Brisbane suburb of Chermside.^[1]