Jones, Barry Owen (1932 - )

Summary

Barry Jones is a polymath and politician, some of the highlights of his early early career being a champion on a popular quiz program and a pioneer of talk back radio in Australia. A teacher before entering politics, Jones was a member of the Victorian Legislative assembly for five years, followed by 21 years in the Australian Federal Parliament. During this time he was Minister for Science and several other portfolios. As Minister he was instrumental in establishment of the Australia Prize, Questacon and the Commission for the Future. Jones is well-known for his broad range of interests and involvement in cultural and community organisations. These include the Book Industry Strategy Group, the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority, and the Australian Film Development Corporation. Internationally he was involved in organisations and programs as varied as UNESCO and the OECD review of the economy of Yugoslavia. Jones has written widely on science and technology in Australia and the direction Australia might take. Other highlights were attendance at the G7 summit and the Ozone Layer Conference in London, and time at Trinity College, Cambridge. Later interests include climate change, post-industrialism, the IT revolution and stem cells. His book Sleepers, wake! (1982) canvassed the future implications of the information revolution and attracted widespread international attention. This was followed in 2020 by What is to be done: political engagement and saving the planet. Jones is commemorated by Barry Jones Bay, Australian Antarctic Territory, and the extinct marsupial Yalkaparidon jonesi.

Details

Chronology

1950 -

Career position - Member, Australian Labor Party

1957 - 1967

Career position - Teacher, Dandenong High School, Victoria

1960 - 1968

Career position - Contestant (and Champion), Pick a box (radio and television quiz program)

1968 - 1970

Career position - Lecturer in history, La Trobe University

1969 - 1973

Career position - Member, Australian Council for the Arts

1970 - 1975

Career position - Member, Australian Film Development Corporation

1971 - 1973

Career position - Deputy Chair, Australian Council for the Arts

1972 - 1977

Career position - Member for Melbourne, Legislative Assembly, Parliament of Victoria

1977 - 1998

Career position - Member for Lalor, House of Representatives, Parliament of Australia

1980 - 1983

Career position - Member, ABC Advisory Council for Victoria

1981 - 1983

Career position - Member, Advisory Council, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

1983 - 1984

Career position - Minister for Science and Technology, Australian Government

1984 - 1987

Career position - Minister for Science, Australian Government

1987 - 1988

Career position - Minister for Science and Small Business, Australian Government

1988 - 1990

Career position - Minister for Science, Customs and Small Business, Australian Government

1991 - 1995

Career position - Member, Executive Board, UNESCO

1992

Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Technological Science and Engineering (FTSE)

1992 - 2000

Career position - Federal President, Australian Labor Party

1993 -

Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of the Humanities (FAHA)

1993

Award - Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) - for service to the promotion of science, the arts and film, writing and Australian politics

1993

Career position - President, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science

1994 -

Career position - Professorial Fellow, Victoria University

1995 - 1996

Career position - Vice-President, World Heritage Committee

1996

Award - Redmond Barry Award, Australian Library and Information Association

1996

Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)

1996 - 1998

Career position - Member of Council, National Library of Australia

1998

Career position - Co-Chair, Australian Constitutional Convention

1998 - 2000

Career position - Vice-President, Australian ICOMOS

1999 -

Career position - Adjunct Professor, Monash University

1999 - 2002

Career position - Member of Committee, CRC for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway Management

2000 - 2012

Career position - Board Member, Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health

2000 - 2015

Career position - Chair, Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority

2001 -

Award - Fellow, Royal Society of Victoria

2001

Award - Centenary Medal - for dedication to Australia as a knowledge nation

2001

Award - John Curtin Medal, Curtin University

2001 - 2005

Career position - Chair, Victorian Schools Innovation Commission

2002

Award - Doctor of Laws (LLD), honoris causa, University of Melbourne

2002 - 2004

Career position - Vice-President, Australian ICOMOS

2002 - 2008

Career position - Member Australian Stem Cell Centre

2002 - 2012

Career position - Member, Centre for Eye Research Australia

2002 - 2014

Career position - Chair, Vision2020Australia

2003 -

Award - Fellow, Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (FASSA)

2003 -

Award - Fellow, Australia College of Educators (FACE)

2005 - 2006

Career position - National President, Australian Labor Party

2005 - 2007

Career position - Vice-Chancellor's Fellow, University of Melbourne

2007 -

Career position - Professorial Fellow, University of Melbourne

2008

Award - Lifetime Achievement Award, Research Australia

2008 - 2015

Career position - Member of the Board, Victorian Opera

2010 - 2011

Career position - Chair, Book Industry Strategy Group

2012 -

Award - Distinguished Fellow, Royal Society of New South Wales

2014

Award - Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) - for eminent service to the community as a leading intellectual in Australian public life, through contributions to scientific, heritage, musical, medical, political and public health organisations, and to the Australian Parliament

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Hawke, R. J. L. and Jones, Barry, Science and technology for Australia : statement and speeches by the Hon. R.J.L. Hawke, Prime Minister and the Hon. Barry O. Jones, Minister for Science, Customs and Small Business and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Science and Technology (Canberra: A.G.P.S., 1989), 48 pp. Details
• Jones, Barry, Sleepers, wake! Technology and the future of work (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1982), 285 pp. Details
• Jones, Barry, The impact of technological change in Australia (Clayton, Vic.: Graduate School of Management, Monash University, 1989), 25 pp. Details
• Jones, Barry, Politics, choice and long-term thinking in an age of technological revolution : the sixth Keith Roby memorial lecture ([Murdoch, W.A.]: Murdoch University, 1989), 20 pp. Details
• Jones, Barry, A thinking reed (Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, 2006), 516 pp. Details
• Jones, Barry, What is to be done: political engagement and saving the planet (Brunswick, Vic.: Scribe Publications, 2020), 386 pp. Details
• Jones, Barry, Dictionary of world biography (Canberra: ANU Press, 2021), http://doi.org/10.22459/DWB.2021. Details
• Nossal, Gus [and others], Achievements and challenges for Australian science (Parkville, Vic.: Ian Clunies Ross Memorial Foundation, 1993), 55 pp. Details
• Williams, Bruce; Jones, Barry; and McKinnon, Ken, The changing world : three lectures by people eminent in their field on problems in work, higher education and technology ([Waurn Ponds, Vic.]: Community Relations, Deakin University, 1983), 56 pp. Details

Resources

• 'Barry Jones - Citation at year of election, 1996', Fellows of the Academy, Australian Academy of Science, 2019, https://www.science.org.au/profile.barry-jones. Details
• 'Awarded honorary LLD, 2002', Honorary degree holders, University of Melbourne, 2023, https://about.unimelb.edu.au/notable-alumni-staff/honorary-degree-holders. Details

Resource Sections

• Parliament of Australia, 'Biography for Jones, the Hon. Barry Owen, AO', Canberra, 2022. https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:handbook/allmps/KH4. Details

See also

• Robson, Alexandra K.; Production Manager and Editor eds, Who's who in Australia 2019 (Southbank, Vic.: AAP Directories, 2018), 1788 pp. Details