Alwyn Tonking (original) (raw)

Alwyn Uren Tonking (24 August 1893 – 4 May 1965) was an Australian politician. He was born at Dalton to schoolteacher Abednego Tonking and Marian, née Dunne. He attended Sydney High School and Hawkesbury Agricultural College, from which he received a Diploma of Agriculture, before studying to become a teacher at the Teachers College at Blackfriars. He taught at Bowral from 1915 to 1916, when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. After the war he taught at Hurlestone Agricultural High School (1919–20) and Orange High School (1920–23) before becoming an orchardist and grazier. In 1925 he married Mary Cannon, with whom he had two daughters. He was founding chairman of the Orange Producers' Rural Co-operative Society from 1930 to 1938.