Richard Gun

Dr Richard Gun AO
Gun in 1973
Member of the Australian Parliament for Kingston
In office 25 October 1969 – 11 November 1975
Preceded by	Kay Brownbill
Succeeded by	Grant Chapman
Personal details
Born	(1936-05-27) 27 May 1936 Adelaide, South Australia
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Alma mater	University of Adelaide
Profession	Doctor

Richard Townsend "Richie/Ritchie" Gun AO (born 27 May 1936) is a retired politician and doctor.

Born in Adelaide, South Australia, he was educated at St Peter's College and the University of Adelaide. He was on the anaesthetics registrar at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Political career

In 1969 he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for Kingston, defeating Liberal MP Kay Brownbill. He held the seat until 1975, when he was defeated by the Liberal candidate, Grant Chapman, with a swing of over 12 percent. He unsuccessfully attempted to retake the seat at the next two elections, the second time losing by only 358 votes.

Medical career

Gun in 2015.

Gun began his work in occupational medicine in the 1970s. He was one of the founding members of the College of Occupational Medicine, now known as the Australasian Faculty of Occupational Medicine.

In 1983 Gun was appointed chair of the Commonwealth Government's Interim National Occupational Health and Safety Commission. The Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations (Ralph Willis) quoted his qualifications as:

"a medical practitioner who is currently a Visiting Scientist with the United States National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. From his previous position as a Senior Medical Officer in the Occupational Health Branch of the South Australian Health Commission, Dr Gun has a long involvement with, and knowledge of, occupational health in Australia. This, together with his relevant international experience, will bring to the Interim National Commission a most valuable contribution."

In 1990 when he was a senior lecturer in occupational and environmental health at the University of Adelaide he published the results of a study which suggested that the incidence of repetitive strain injury (RSI) was declining in South Australia.

Honours and awards

In 2015 Gun was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia "for distinguished service to medicine, particularly in the field of occupational health and safety, and to socially disadvantaged communities in regional Australia and Timor-Leste".

Other interests

As a teenager, Gun was a jazz musician of some local celebrity, leader of "Richie Gun's Collegians", a King Oliver / Louis Armstrong inspired band, and has been credited with giving Ted Nettelbeck his first experience in public performance.