Tributes have been paid following the recent death of a former state rural MP who was born in Mount Gambier in 1923.
Bill Nankivell, 100, was the son of the Church of Christ minister who was based in the Blue Lake city at the time.
After serving with the RAAF during World War II and working the land near Keith, Mr Nankivell began his 20-year Liberal Party parliamentary career in 1959.
Over the years, Mr Nankivell was shadow minister for primary industries and education, as well as an inaugural member of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee when it was formed in 1972.
At the 1977 preselection process within the party, he was challenged by the former Liberal Member for Millicent Murray Vandepeer after the electorate of Millicent was absorbed into surrounding seats.
Mr Nankivell won the preselection and went on to win the seat of Mallee.
His service was acknowledged in the House of Assembly with speeches by Premier Peter Malinauskas, Opposition Leader David Speirs and Liberal frontbencher Adrian Pederick.
