James Richard "Jim" Small (born 22 September 1933) is a former Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician. He was the National Party

National Party of Australia

The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...

 member for Murray

Electoral district of Murray (New South Wales)

Murray was an electoral district in the Australian state of New South Wales. It was a single-member electorate from 1859 to 1920, but from 1920 to 1927 it was merged with Albury, Corowa and Wagga Wagga to create a three-member electorate, voting by proportional representation. It was recreated as a...

 in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

 from 1985 to 1999.

Small was born at Bondi

Bondi, New South Wales

Bondi is an eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Bondi is located seven kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council. The postcode is 2026.-Location:...

 in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

. He was educated at Deniliquin and underwent national service

National service

National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...

 1954–56. He became a bank clerk and then primary producer, and married Judith on 15 October 1955 (they would have four children). He was active in the local community and in the local branch of the Country Party

National Party of Australia

The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...

 for many years.

In 1984, following the resignation of the member for the local state seat of Murray

Electoral district of Murray (New South Wales)

Murray was an electoral district in the Australian state of New South Wales. It was a single-member electorate from 1859 to 1920, but from 1920 to 1927 it was merged with Albury, Corowa and Wagga Wagga to create a three-member electorate, voting by proportional representation. It was recreated as a...

, Tim Fischer

Tim Fischer

Timothy Andrew Fischer, AC , is a former Australian politician. He served as Deputy Prime Minister in the Howard Government from 1996 before retiring from Cabinet in 1999...

, to contest the federal seat of Farrer

Division of Farrer

The Division of Farrer is an Australian Electoral Division in New South Wales. The division was created in 1949 and is named for William Farrer, agricultural scientist. It is located in the southern rural area of the state and includes Albury, Balranald, Deniliquin and Jerilderie. It has always...

, Small was selected as the Nationals' candidate for the by-election. He was elected without difficulty, defeating his only opponent, independent

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

 candidate Ray Brooks, with a 12.96% margin. He held the seat easily until 1999, when it was combined with the solid Labor

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 seat of Broken Hill

Electoral district of Broken Hill

Broken Hill was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. From 1894 to 1913, the Broken Hill district was covered by the electoral districts of Broken Hill, Willyama and Sturt. In the 1912 redistribution, the electoral district of Broken Hill...

 to create the new seat of Murray-Darling

Electoral district of Murray-Darling

Murray-Darling is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by John Williams of the National Party of Australia....

, a marginal National seat. In the event, both Small and Broken Hill MP Bill Beckroge

Bill Beckroge

Bill Beckroge was an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1981 until 1999. He was a member of the ALP....

retired, and the seat was won by Labor.