Roy Robert Rawson (11 May 1898 – 14 June 1971) was an Australian politician.
He was born atWoods Point to gold miner Robert Rawson and Ellen Smith. From the age of fourteen, he was employed in aMelbourne warehouse, and in 1916 he campaigned againstmilitary conscription. From 1916 to 1918, he was a wireless operator for theRoyal Australian Navy, and after the war, he managed first a tea room inBourke Street and then, from 1922, a bookshop inSwanston Street. In April 1925 he married schoolteacher Florence Elizabeth Mitchell, with whom he had one son, political scientist, Don Rawson. His daughter-in-law for a period was classicistBeryl Rawson.[1]
From 1927 he owned his bookshop inExhibition Street, where he also ran the headquarters of the Book Censorship Abolition League (1934–36) and subsequently theAustralian Council for Civil Liberties. He moved toUpwey in 1951, where he became vice-president of the localLabor Party branch. In 1952, he was elected to theVictorian Legislative Council forSouthern Province, and served until his defeat at the1958 Victorian Legislative Council election. Rawson died atHawthorn in 1971.[2]
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| Preceded by | Member forSouthern 1952–1958 Served alongside:Gilbert Chandler | Succeeded by |