22/03/1928 – 01/05/2025
Born and raised on a farming property outside Orbost, Peter attended Wesley College as a boarder and was a keen footballer in his youth. He played football on a Saturday morning before heading off to watch a League match.
He said, ’It was two pence on the bus. We came to Punt Road one day and Jack Dyer took three of us in. We were standing in the corner of the race, and he took us into the rooms and the three of us remained Richmond for the rest of our lives.'
Sidelined by a hip injury from football that saw him spend eight months in hospital, Peter returned to East Gippsland after school, the fourth generation of his family to work the land.
Peter went on to become a universally admired politician, serving under five former Prime Ministers - Harold Holt (OW1926), John McEwen, John Gorton, Billy McMahon and Malcolm Fraser. While the Member for Gippsland in the Federal Parliament for 21 years, Peter held the portfolios of Minister for the Interior, Postmaster-General, Minister for Shipping and Transport and Minister for Primary Industry.
In 1984, Peter was appointed Chair of Southern Cross Broadcasting. During his tenure, Southern Cross underwent significant expansion, acquiring Melbourne radio stations 3AW and 3AK, Perth radio stations 6PR and 6IX, Tasmanian television station TNT and Canberra television station CTC. He also served on the Board of Linfox.
In 1994, Hugh Lamberton wrote in The Canberra Times that Peter was, 'one of the few long-serving politicians to have established a post-parliamentary life not overburdened with a nostalgic dependence on past achievement'.
Outside of broadcasting, Nixon was a member of the Victorian Football League Commission from 1985 to 1991. As a staunch supporter of the Richmond Football Club, Peter was Club Patron for over 40 years. In 1981, he was appointed a Premier Patron of the Richmond Football Club, a position he held until his death, and from 1995-2004, he was a consultant for the Board. At the end of 1984, Peter was selected as one of the four original VFL/AFL Commissioners on the League’s governing body.
Following the fortunes of Tigerland from within the inner sanctum, he always had the ear and respect of powerbrokers Graeme Richmond, Alan Schwab and Ian Wilson.
Peter’s time as an AFL Commissioner coincided with that of Chairman Ross Oakley (OW1961) and Graeme Samuel (OW1963), whilst all three were simultaneously heavily involved with the Wesley College Foundation. It was not uncommon that urgent AFL matters sometimes pushed the Wesley agenda aside at Foundation meetings!
In 2015, Peter became one of the patrons of the Wesley appeal to fund the building of a new boarding complex on the Glen Waverly Campus, known as Learning in Residence. He took on this role notwithstanding his vigorous opposition to the closure in 1980 of the Wesley boarding facility he remembered fondly – Adamson House – on the St Kilda Road Campus. Such was the fierce loyalty Peter had for Wesley.
His two sons Mark (OW1977) and Christopher (OW1980) likewise were boarders at St Kilda Road, and his daughter Joanne married Peter Christie (OW1974) who was also a Wesley boarder.
Peter and his wife Sally were regular and enthusiastic attendees at Wesley functions, and he engaged with all and sundry with the gentlemanly demeanour he became renowned for.
Contributed by Frank Opray (OW1963)