Arthur Fadden

The Right Honourable Sir Arthur Fadden GCMG
13th Prime Minister of Australia Elections: 1943
In office 29 August – 7 October 1941
Monarch	George VI
Governor-General	Lord Gowrie
Preceded by	Robert Menzies
Succeeded by	John Curtin
Leader of the Opposition
In office 7 October 1941 – 23 September 1943
Prime Minister	John Curtin
Preceded by	John Curtin
Succeeded by	Robert Menzies
Treasurer of Australia
In office 28 October 1940 – 6 October 1941
Prime Minister	Robert Menzies Arthur Fadden
Preceded by	Percy Spender
Succeeded by	Ben Chifley
In office 19 December 1949 – 9 December 1958
Prime Minister	Robert Menzies
Preceded by	Ben Chifley
Succeeded by	Harold Holt
Leader of the Country Party
In office 12 March 1941 – 26 March 1958 Acting: 16 October 1940 – 12 March 1941
Deputy	John McEwen
Preceded by	Archie Cameron
Succeeded by	John McEwen
Deputy Leader of the Country Party
In office 16 October 1940 – 12 March 1941
Leader	Vacant
Preceded by	Harold Thorby
Succeeded by	John McEwen
Member of the Australian Parliament for Darling Downs
In office 6 November 1936 – 10 December 1949
Preceded by	Littleton Groom
Succeeded by	Reginald Swartz
Member of the Australian Parliament for McPherson
In office 10 December 1949 – 22 November 1958
Preceded by	New seat
Succeeded by	Charles Barnes
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Kennedy
In office 11 June 1932 – 11 May 1935
Preceded by	Harry Bruce
Succeeded by	Cecil Jesson
Personal details
Born	(1894-04-13)13 April 1894 Ingham, Queensland, Australia
Died	21 April 1973(1973-04-21) (aged 79) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Political party	CPNP (until 1936) Country Party (after 1936)
Spouse(s)	Ilma Thornber (m. 1916; wid. 1973)
Children	4
Education	Ingham State School
Occupation	Accountant

Sir Arthur William Fadden, GCMG (13 April 1894 – 21 April 1973) was an Australian politician who served as Prime Minister of Australia from 29 August to 7 October 1941. He was the leader of the Country Party from 1940 to 1958.

Fadden was born in Ingham, Queensland, to Irish immigrant parents. He was raised in Mackay, and left school at the age of 15 to work as a clerk. Following the 1918 Mackay cyclone, which destroyed the town, Fadden moved to Townsville and set up as a public accountant. He was elected to the Townsville City Council in 1930, and in 1932 was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly for the Country and Progressive National Party. Fadden lost his seat in 1935, but the following year won a by-election to the federal Division of Darling Downs.

In March 1940, Fadden was named a minister without portfolio in the government of Robert Menzies, who led the United Australia Party in a coalition with the Country Party. A few months later, following the deaths of three senior ministers in an air crash, he took over as Minister for Air and Minister for Civil Aviation. In October 1940, Fadden replaced Harold Thorby as deputy leader of the Country Party. The leadership was vacant at the time, following Archie Cameron's resignation, so Fadden became acting leader of the party and de facto deputy prime minister. Menzies subsequently promoted him to Treasurer of Australia.

Fadden served as acting prime minister for four months early in 1941 (while Menzies was away in Europe), and became popular for his conciliatory manner. He became the official leader of the Country Party following a ballot in March 1941. In August 1941, Menzies resigned as prime minister after losing the confidence of his ministry. Fadden was elected leader of the UAP–Country coalition in his place, and consequently became prime minister. However, he held office for just 39 days before being replaced by John Curtin, whose Labor Party had successfully moved a motion of no confidence. After losing the prime ministership, Fadden continued on as Leader of the Opposition for two more years. He eventually resigned in favour of Menzies following the coalition's massive defeat at the 1943 election.

When Menzies returned as prime minister in 1949, Fadden became Treasurer for a second time, holding office until his retirement from politics in 1958. Only Peter Costello has served in the position for longer. Fadden enjoyed one of the most rapid rises in Australian political history, moving from private citizen to the prime ministership in just 11 years. He was the first prime minister born in Queensland, and the first and only member of the Country Party to become prime minister with his own mandate (rather than just serving as a caretaker after the death of a predecessor).

Early life

Fadden was born in Ingham, Queensland, on 13 April 1894, the son of a Presbyterian police officer. He was educated at state schools, and later studied accountancy while working as a clerk. Once he had qualified he became assistant Town Clerk of Mackay, then Town Clerk. In 1919 Fadden helped form the North Queensland Rugby League, and served as its founding secretary.^[1] In the 1920s he established a successful accountancy firm with offices in Brisbane and Townsville. He was active in the Country Party from its foundation.

Career

Fadden in 1940.

In 1932 Fadden was elected for one term to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland as member for Kennedy.^[2] He was defeated in 1935. The following year, though, he won a by-election in the federal seat of Darling Downs. He was a blunt, effective debater and soon made an impression. When Archie Cameron resigned suddenly as Country Party leader in 1940, there was a deadlock between Earle Page and John McEwen in the ballot to select a new leader, and Fadden was chosen as a compromise candidate. He was appointed Minister for Supply and Development, then Minister for Air, then Treasurer (finance minister).

Prime Minister of Australia

In August 1941 Robert Menzies resigned as Prime Minister and leader of the senior party in the coalition, the United Australia Party (UAP).^[3] Although the non-Labor Coalition had been in power for a decade, the UAP was so bereft of leadership that it was forced to elect former Prime Minister Billy Hughes as its new leader. Under normal circumstances, this would have made Hughes Prime Minister for a second time. However, Hughes was a month shy of 78, and was viewed as too old and frail to be anything other than a stopgap leader, especially during wartime. Under the circumstances, on 28 August a joint UAP-Country meeting chose Fadden as Coalition leader even though the Country Party was the smaller of the two non-Labor parties. Fadden was duly sworn in as Prime Minister the next day, and also remained Treasurer. He was the only member of the Country/National Party to serve as Prime Minister without an expectation of a short tenure (the other two Country/National Prime Ministers, Page and McEwen, served as caretakers).

Nevertheless, Fadden's term of office was troubled from the start. Even parliamentarians in his own party feared the worst. It was later reported that Fadden decided against moving into The Lodge, the official Prime Minister's residence in Canberra, after fellow Country Party member Archie Cameron crudely told him that he would "scarcely have enough time to wear a track from the backdoor to the shithouse before you’ll be out".^[4]

On 3 October, the two independent legislators who had been keeping the Coalition in office for the last year, Arthur Coles and Alexander Wilson, voted against Fadden's budget. Coles and Wilson had been so disgusted with how Menzies had been treated that they refused to support the Coalition any longer. Due to this loss of supply, Fadden submitted his government's resignation to the Governor-General Lord Gowrie later the same day. This was the last occasion to date on which an Australian government was forced to resign after being defeated on the floor of the House of Representatives.^[5] Fadden joked that he was like the Flood: he had "reigned for 40 days and 40 nights".

The Governor-General was reluctant to call an election for a House that was barely a year old, especially considering that the war had recently been brought to the nation's doorstep with Japan's advances. However, he would have been left with no other option if Labor leader John Curtin did not have enough support to govern. With this in mind, Gowrie summoned Coles and Wilson and obtained their assurances that they would support Curtin as Prime Ministier and end the instability that had plagued the government since 1940. Coles and Wilson agreed to this, and Curtin was sworn in on 7 October.

Leader of the Opposition

Following the fall of his ministry, a joint UAP-Country Party meeting endorsed Fadden as Leader of the Opposition, even though the UAP was nominally the senior coalition partner. The Coalition sank into near-paralysis in opposition. Even allowing for Curtin's personal popularity, as well as the significant advantages which an incumbent government in a Westminster system has in wartime, Fadden proved a disappointment as Leader of the Opposition; he was unable to get the better of Curtin. The Coalition suffered a crushing loss in the 1943 election. It was reduced to 19 seats, including a mere seven for Fadden's Country Party. Accepting responsibility for this severe defeat, Fadden then handed the Opposition leadership back to Menzies, who had resumed the UAP leadership.

Later years

Fadden in 1949.

After the Coalition was again vanquished at the 1946 election, Fadden resumed his political partnership with Menzies. Two years earlier, Menzies had folded the UAP into the new Liberal Party of Australia. There was some speculation that the Country Party would be included in the merger (as had already happened in several states), but Fadden was keen to assert the independence of his party.

Always an outspoken conservative, in the late 1940s he became a strong anti-communist, urging Menzies to ban the Communist Party if he ever came to power. Indeed, in the lead up to the 1949 election, Fadden often made inflammatory claims about the "socialist" nature of the Labor Party which Menzies could then "clarify" or repudiate as he saw fit, thus appearing more "moderate". His often extreme views were concealed behind a jolly public manner and he enjoyed his nickname "Artie."

Fadden was a friend of Robert Frederick Bird Wake, one of the country's leading security experts at the time. It was an odd relationship, based on their mutual love of Queensland and Queenslanders. Wake, who was a founder director with the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (1949), was supplied with inside information by Fadden about security leaks in the UK. Although Wake was more inclined to support the Labor Party, the relationship stood the test of time and proved mutually beneficial.^[6]

The Coalition won a massive victory in the 1949 election, and Fadden, who transferred to the newly created seat of McPherson on the Gold Coast, became Treasurer in the second Menzies government. Although inflation was high in the early 1950s, forcing him to impose several "horror budgets," he generally presided over a booming economy, with times especially good for farmers.

Fadden retired at the 1958 election. Thereafter he faded from the news, remaining quietly in Brisbane until his death in 1973. He was accorded a state funeral which proceeded from the Toowong Presbyterian Church to the Mt Thompson Crematorium.^[7][8]

Honours

Portrait of Arthur Fadden

Bust of Arthur Fadden by sculptor Wallace Anderson located in the Prime Minister's Avenue in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens

Fadden was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1951.^[9] The honour was conferred upon Fadden by King George VI in London on 31 January 1952, only a week before the King's death.^[10] In 1958 Fadden raised to Knight Grand Cross (GCMG) of the order.^[11] The Canberra suburb of Fadden and the Division of Fadden are named after him.

In 1975 he was honoured on a postage stamp bearing his portrait issued by Australia Post.^[12][13]

Fadden Ministry

29 August 1941 to 7 October 1941

• Rt Hon Arthur Fadden, MP: Prime Minister, Treasurer (CP)
• Rt Hon William Morris Hughes, MP: Attorney-General, Minister for the Navy (UAP)
• Rt Hon Robert Menzies, KC MP: Minister for Defence Co-ordination (UAP)
• Hon Percy Spender, KC MP: Minister for the Army (UAP)
• Senator Hon George McLeay: Vice-President of the Executive Council, Minister for Supply and Development (UAP)
• Hon John McEwen, MP: Minister for Air, Minister for Civil Aviation (CP)
• Senator Hon Hattil Foll: Minister for the Interior, Minister for Information (UAP)
• Rt Hon Sir Earle Page, GCMG MP: Minister for Commerce (CP)
• Hon Sir Frederick Stewart, MP: Minister for External Affairs, Minister for Health, Minister for Social Services (UAP)
• Senator Hon Philip McBride: Minister for Munitions (UAP)
• Hon Eric Harrison, MP: Minister for Trade and Customs (UAP)
• Hon Harold Holt, MP: Minister for Labour and National Service (UAP)
• Senator Hon Herbert Collett: Minister for Repatriation (UAP)
• Hon Thomas Collins, MP: Postmaster-General (CP)
• Senator Hon John Leckie: Minister for Aircraft Production (UAP)
• Hon Larry Anthony, MP: Minister for Transport (CP)
• Hon Eric Spooner, MP: Minister for War Organisation of Industry (UAP)
• Hon Joe Abbott, MP: Minister for Home Security (CP)
• Hon Allan MacDonald, MP: Minister for External Territories (UAP)

References

Further reading

• Arklay, T. (2014) Political Silhouette, Australian Scholarly: Melbourne. ISBN 978 1 925003 84 0.
• Fadden, Arthur (1969), They Called Me Artie, Jacaranda Press
• Hughes, Colin A (1976), Mr Prime Minister. Australian Prime Ministers 1901-1972, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Victoria, Ch.14. ISBN 0-19-550471-2

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arthur Fadden.

• "Arthur Fadden". Australia's Prime Ministers. National Archives of Australia. Archived from the original on 26 July 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2010. 
• Cribb, Margaret Bridson (1988). "Fadden, Sir Arthur William (1894 - 1973)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: Australian National University. Retrieved 29 June 2010. 
• "Prime Ministers of Australia: Arthur Fadden". National Museum of Australia. Retrieved 29 June 2010.