Premier of South Australia

Premier of South Australia
Style The Honourable
Appointer Governor of South Australia
Term length At Her Majesty's pleasure
Inaugural holder B.T. Finniss
Formation 24 October 1856

Before the 1890s when there was no formal party system in South Australia, MPs tended to have historical liberal or conservative beliefs. The liberals dominated government from 1893 to 1905 with Labor support, with the conservatives mostly in opposition. Labor took government with the support of eight dissident liberals in 1905 when Labor gained more seats. The rise of Labor saw non-Labor politics start to merge into various party incarnations. The conservatives merged with the Liberal and Democratic Union (formed in 1906) to become the Liberal Union in 1910. Labor formed South Australia's first majority government after winning the 1910 state election, two weeks after federal Labor formed Australia's first majority government after winning the 1910 federal election.

List of Premiers of South Australia

The first six Governors of South Australia oversaw governance from proclamation in 1836 until responsible government was introduced in 1856.

No. Premier Party Assumed office Left office Period
1 B.T. Finniss 24 October 1856 21 August 1857 301 days
2 John Baker 21 August 1857 1 September 1857 11 days
3 Robert Torrens 1 September 1857 30 September 1857 29 days
4 Richard Hanson 30 September 1857 9 May 1860 2 years, 222 days
5 Thomas Reynolds 9 May 1860 8 October 1861 1 years, 152 days
6 George Waterhouse 8 October 1861 4 July 1863 1 years, 269 days
7 Francis Dutton 4 July 1863 15 July 1863 11 days
8 Henry Ayers 15 July 1863 4 August 1864 1 years, 20 days
9 Arthur Blyth 4 August 1864 22 March 1865 230 days
- Francis Dutton
(2nd time)		 22 March 1865 20 September 1865 182 days
Total - 193 days
- Henry Ayers
(2nd time)		 20 September 1865 23 October 1865 33 days
Total - 1 year, 53 days
10 John Hart 23 October 1865 28 March 1866 156 days
11 James Boucaut 28 March 1866 3 May 1867 1 years, 36 days
- Henry Ayers
(3rd time)		 3 May 1867 24 September 1868 1 years, 144 days
Total - 2 years, 197 days
- John Hart
(2nd time)		 24 September 1868 13 October 1868 19 days
Total - 175 days
- Henry Ayers
(4th time)		 13 October 1868 3 November 1868 21 days
Total - 2 years, 218 days
12 Henry Strangways 3 November 1868 30 May 1870 1 years, 208 days
- John Hart
(3rd time)		 30 May 1870 10 November 1871 1 years, 164 days
Total - 1 year, 339 days
- Arthur Blyth
(2nd time)		 10 November 1871 22 January 1872 73 days
Total - 303 days
- Henry Ayers
(5th time)		 22 January 1872 22 July 1873 1 years, 181 days
Total - 4 years, 34 days
- Arthur Blyth
(3rd time)		 22 July 1873 3 June 1875 1 years, 316 days
Total - 2 years, 254 days
- James Boucaut
(2nd time)		 3 June 1875 6 June 1876 1 years, 3 days
Total - 2 years, 39 days
13 John Colton 6 June 1876 26 October 1877 1 years, 142 days
- James Boucaut
(3rd time)		 26 October 1877 27 September 1878 336 days
Total - 3 years, 10 days
14 William Morgan 27 September 1878 24 June 1881 2 years, 270 days
15 John Cox Bray 24 June 1881 16 June 1884 2 years, 358 days
- John Colton
(2nd time)		 16 June 1884 16 June 1885 1 years, 0 days
Total - 2 years, 142 days
16 John Downer 16 June 1885 11 June 1887 1 years, 360 days
17 Thomas Playford II 11 June 1887 27 June 1889 2 years, 16 days
18 John Cockburn 27 June 1889 19 August 1890 1 years, 53 days
- Thomas Playford II
(2nd time)		 19 August 1890 21 June 1892 1 years, 307 days
Total - 3 years, 323 days
19 Frederick Holder 21 June 1892 15 October 1892 116 days
- John Downer
(2nd time)		 conservatism[1] 15 October 1892 16 June 1893 244 days
Total - 2 year, 239 days
20 Charles Kingston liberalism 16 June 1893 1 December 1899 6 years, 168 days
21 Vaiben Louis Solomon conservatism 1 December 1899 8 December 1899 7 days
- Frederick Holder
(2nd time)		 liberalism 8 December 1899 15 May 1901 1 years, 158 days
Total - 1 year, 274 days
22 John Jenkins liberalism 15 May 1901 1 March 1905 3 years, 290 days
23 Richard Butler conservatism 1 March 1905 26 July 1905 147 days
24 Thomas Price Labor 26 July 1905 5 June 1909 3 years, 314 days
25 Archibald Peake LDU 5 June 1909 3 June 1910 363 days
26 John Verran Labor 3 June 1910 17 February 1912 1 years, 259 days
- Archibald Peake
(2nd time)		 Liberal Union 17 February 1912 3 April 1915 3 years, 45 days
Total - 4 years, 43 days
27 Crawford Vaughan Labor 3 April 1915 14 July 1917 2 years, 102 days
- Archibald Peake
(3rd time)		 Liberal Union 14 July 1917 8 April 1920 2 years, 269 days
Total - 6 years, 312 days
28 Henry Barwell Liberal Union/
Liberal Federation		 8 April 1920 16 April 1924 4 years, 8 days
29 John Gunn Labor 16 April 1924 28 August 1926 2 years, 134 days
30 Lionel Hill Labor 28 August 1926 8 April 1927 223 days
31 Richard Layton Butler Liberal Federation 8 April 1927 17 April 1930 3 years, 9 days
- Lionel Hill
(2nd time)		 Labor 17 April 1930 13 February 1933 2 years, 302 days
Total - 3 years, 160 days
32 Robert Richards Labor 13 February 1933 18 April 1933 64 days
- Richard Layton Butler
(2nd time)		 LCL 18 April 1933 5 November 1938 5 years, 201 days
Total - 8 years, 210 days
33 Thomas Playford IV LCL 5 November 1938 10 March 1965 26 years, 125 days
34 Frank Walsh Labor 10 March 1965 1 June 1967 2 years, 83 days
35 Don Dunstan Labor 1 June 1967 17 April 1968 321 days
36 Steele Hall LCL 17 April 1968 2 June 1970 2 years, 46 days
- Don Dunstan
(2nd time)		 Labor 2 June 1970 15 February 1979 8 years, 258 days
Total - 9 years, 214 days
37 Des Corcoran Labor 15 February 1979 18 September 1979 215 days
38 David Tonkin Liberal 18 September 1979 10 November 1982 3 years, 53 days
39 John Bannon Labor 10 November 1982 4 September 1992 9 years, 299 days
40 Lynn Arnold Labor 4 September 1992 14 December 1993 1 years, 101 days
41 Dean Brown Liberal 14 December 1993 28 November 1996 2 years, 350 days
42 John Olsen Liberal 28 November 1996 22 October 2001 4 years, 328 days
43 Rob Kerin Liberal 22 October 2001 5 March 2002 134 days
44 Mike Rann Labor 5 March 2002 21 October 2011 9 years, 230 days
45 Jay Weatherill Labor 21 October 2011 Incumbent 3 years, 190 days

Living former premiers

Former South Australian premiers (from left) Robert Richards, Richard L. Butler, Lionel Hill and Henry Barwell meet with then Premier Tom Playford in 1940

There are seven living former premiers, the oldest being Steele Hall (1968–70, born 1928). The most recent death, on 3 January 2004, was that of Des Corcoran (Premier Feb–Sept 1979), and the most recently serving premier to die was Dr David Tonkin (1979–1982), on 2 October 2000.

NameTerm as premierDate of birth
Steele Hall 1968–1970 28 November 1928
John Bannon 1982–1992 7 May 1943
Lynn Arnold 1992–1993 27 January 1949
Dean Brown 1993–1996 5 April 1943
John Olsen 1996–2001 7 June 1945
Rob Kerin 2001–2002 4 January 1954
Mike Rann 2002–2011 5 January 1953

Graphical timeline

In the following timeline, the legend includes the Liberal and Democratic Union, the Liberal Union and the Liberal Federation represented as "Liberal (pre-1979)". The Liberal Party of Australia is represented as "Liberal (post-1979)" only. The grey area represents the duration of Playmander electoral malapportionment, beginning in 1936, in effect until the 1970 election.

Jay Weatherill Mike Rann Rob Kerin John Olsen Dean Brown Lynn Arnold John Bannon David Tonkin Des Corcoran Steele Hall Don Dunstan Frank Walsh Thomas Playford IV Robert Richards (Australian politician) Richard Layton Butler Lionel Hill John Gunn (Australian politician) Henry Barwell Crawford Vaughan John Verran Archibald Peake Thomas Price Richard Butler (Australian politician) John Jenkins (Australian politician) Vaiben Solomon Charles Kingston Frederick Holder John Cockburn (Australian politician) Thomas Playford II John Downer John Cox Bray William Morgan (Australian politician) John Colton Henry Strangways James Boucaut John Hart (South Australian colonist) Arthur Blyth Henry Ayres Francis Dutton George Marsden Waterhouse Thomas Reynolds Richard Hanson (Australian politician) Robert Torrens John Baker (Australian politician)

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Premiers of South Australia.

References

  1. ↑ 1893 SA election - Playford replaced Cockburn as premier of a ministerialist minority government on 19 August 1890, and Holder replaced Playford as premier of a ministerialist minority government on 21 June 1892. The Downer Conservative minority government replaced the Holder ministerialist minority government on 15 October 1892. The Kingston Liberal minority government formed following the 1893 election, but non not take office until 16 June 1893 after the Assembly met for the first time.

External links