Rex Pearson
Rex Whiting Pearson was an Australian politician. Born in Kadina, South Australia, he was educated in Adelaide at Prince Alfred College before becoming a farmer and grazier initially at Sandilands on Yorke Peninsula in South Australia.
In 1927, Pearson moved with his widowed mother to Jamestown. In 1935 he moved with his and his brother Glen's families to Cockaleechie and the following year 20 km north to Yeelanna. He first contested the state election for Flinders in 1938, but lost after distribution of preferences.
In 1941, he was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly as the Liberal and Country League member for Flinders, on preferences from the Labor candidate to defeat the Single Tax League MP Edward Craigie. Even though he moved to Belair then Lower Mitcham near Adelaide and his mother's home, he won the 1947 and 1950 elections for Flinders and retained his interest and support for farming and rural interests, especially in his electorate on Eyre Peninsula.
In 1951, he transferred to federal politics, winning a seat in the Australian Senate as a Liberal at the double dissolution federal election. His brother Glen won the Flinders by-election. Pearson held his senate seat by winning elections in 1953 and 1958, until his death in 1961, necessitating the appointment of Gordon Davidson to replace him.
Pearson was a Methodist lay preacher on Eyre Peninsula.
