Sir Albert Eli Lind was born on 21st February 1878, at East Charlton, Victoria. He was the second son of Oliver Nicholas Lind, a farmer from Björnholm, Denmark, and, his Welsh born mother, Mary Ann, née Clay.
Drought saw the family move from Charlton, Victoria, Australia to East Gippsland in 1882.
Albert Lind attended school at Lucknow and at Bairnsdale. Early on, he worked in hop and maize fields and by the age of just twelve, he was apprenticed to a local builder. From there, he progressed to running his own businesses signwriting, painting, decorating and as a carpenter.
He married Flora Catherine Arthur on the 31st August 1904 at Bairnsdale. They bore four sons and five daughters.
1904 also saw Lind and his brother, Ernie, acquire 640 acres at Mount Taylor. The property ‘Hazel Dell’ was to become a successful Dairy of some 3,500 acres.
Lind became a councillor for the East Riding of Bairnsdale Shire, from 1914 to 1925. October 1920 saw him win the Legislative Assembly seat of East Gippsland, campaigning for improved and expanding road and rail networks, developing a port at Lakes Entrance, opening forest reserves to saw millers – ensuring forests were conserved, protected and re-forested.
The Lind National Park, located some 56 km east of Orbost, was named in his honour in 1926. It is one of Victoria’s oldest national parks – designed to protect a range of forest communities, including significant areas of warm temperate rainforest – Australia’s ancient flora. The national park also amasses a gold mining history centred around the creeks. Club Terrace, located just beyond the northern boundary of the Lind National Park is so named, as a reminder of the ‘Ace of Clubs Mine’ and the Terraces that the mining spoils left behind . . .
Albert Lind was responsible for the reservation of five of Victoria’s National Parks. As Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey, he initiated and actively supported ongoing works programs including the Buchan Caves, where he was responsible for reserving the name: ‘Buchan Caves National Park’.
The long-serving, East Gippsland MLA, enjoyed an extensive political career:
Political Affiliations:
- Victorian Farmers Union
- Country Party – holding the position of Deputy Leader from 1937 to 1945
Appointments included:
- Minister of Lands – April 1935 to January 1942
- Minister of Forests – April 1935 to September 1943
- Deputy Premier – October 1937 to September 1943
- Minister of Public Instruction – January 1942 to September 1943
- Minister of Lands and of Forests – September 1943 to October 1945
- Minister of Soldier Settlement – June 1950 to October 1952
- Minister of Lands and of Forests – June 1950 to October 1952
- Minister of Soldier Settlement October 1952 to December 1952
- Minister of Lands and of Forests – October 1952 to December 1952
Chairman of Committees – 1947 to 1950- Electricity Supply Committee – 1922
- Railways Standing Committee – 1924 to 1931
- Public Accounts Committee – 1956 to 1961
Albert Eli Lind was knighted on the 6th June 1951, becoming the ninth Knight of the Victorian Parliament.
He retired from Parliament in the June of 1961, having served longer than any other sitting member.
Sir Albert Lind died on the 26th June 1964, survived by his wife and eight of his children.
