Thomas Playford II
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Thomas Playford (26 November 1837 - 19 April 1915) served as Premier of South Australia from June 11, 1887 to June 26, 1889 and August 8, 1890 to June 20, 1892, as well as serving as the Australian Federal Minister for Defence from 1905 to 1907.
Born in Bethnal Green, London in 1837, Playford moved to Adelaide in 1844 with his family and initially worked as a farmer prior to entering politics in 1868 as the member for Onkaparinga in the South Australian colonial parliament. He gained the sobriquet "Honest Tom" for his forthright and straightforward manner, although these same qualities would earn him the occasional disapproval of fellow politicians and the electorate, and caused his defeat at the polls in 1871. Playford returned to Parliament in 1875 and held the position of Reforming Commissioner for Crown Lands and Immigration before losing his seat yet again. His fortunes were on the up though in 1887 when he not only re-entered parliament but did so as Premier, holding that position for the next two years. During his term, his most important achievement was considered to be the implementation of the first systematic tariff system for South Australia.
Playford lost government in 1889 after a no confidence vote but regained it in 1890 following an electoral victory in August. During this second term as Premier, Playford also held the position of Treasurer, and managed kudos for significantly reducing the colony's debt, although, it must be admitted, he did spend much of the life of his second term as Premier in India. Following his defeat, Playford moved to London in 1894 to act as Agent-General for South Australia before returning to South Australia in 1898 to serve in Charles Kingston's government, until he crossed the floor in 1899 over a potential erosion of the power of the Legislative Council, bringing down the Kingston government in the process. He also found the time to involve himself in the planning of the Federation of the Australian Commonwealth and drafting the Federal Constitution. As part of this, he proposed the title, “Commonwealth of Australia” and became a Senator in the new federal parliament.
Playford acted first as Leader of the Government in the Senate and Vice-President of Executive Council before becoming Minister of Defence. Following his defeat in the 1906 federal election, Playford made one further unsuccessful attempt for election to the Senate in 1910. He died in Adelaide in 1915.
Playford's grandson, Sir Thomas Playford, also served as Premier of South Australia.
[edit] References
- Jupp, J. (2004) The English in Australia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
- Playford, J. (1988) "Thomas Playford", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne. ISBN 0 521 54295 2.
- South Australian Parliamentary Biography [1]. Accessed 10 September 2004.
| Preceded by: John Downer |
Premier of South Australia 1887–1889 |
Succeeded by: John Cockburn |
| Preceded by: John Cockburn |
Premier of South Australia 1890–1892 |
Succeeded by: Frederick Holder |
| Premiers of South Australia |  |
|---|---|
| Finniss | Baker | Torrens | Hanson | Reynolds | Waterhouse | Dutton | Ayers | Blyth | Hart | Boucaut | Strangways | Colton | Morgan | Bray | Downer | Playford II | Cockburn | Holder | Kingston | Solomon | Jenkins | Butler | Price | Peake | Verran | Vaughan | Barwell | Gunn | Hill | Butler | Richards | Playford IV | Walsh | Dunstan | Hall | Corcoran | Tonkin | Bannon | Arnold | Brown | Olsen | Kerin | Rann | |
