Hon Sir Thomas Playford GCMG

Sir Thomas Playford GCMG

05 July 1896

Liberal and Country League

Gumeracha

House of Assembly

08 April 1933

Sir Thomas Playford IV (1896-1981), grandson of "Honest Tom" Playford, was the longest continuously serving Premier of any state of Australia. After serving in World War I, he won the seat of Murray in 1933, and became a member of the Butler's Liberal and Country League (LCL) ministry on his election to Gumeracha in 1938.

His 27 year Premiership - the Playford Era - started in November of that year after Butler's defeat. Playford's mission was the economic development of South Australia: he encouraged secondary industry to relocate to the state with multiple incentives and concessions, and in under thirty years converted a predominantly rural-based economy to a thriving industrial base, while still maintaining strong agricultural development. During his Premiership, compulsory voting was established, the Electricity Trust Act (1946) was passed and the first female members of Parliament were admitted in 1959.

He was knighted in 1957 (appointed a GCMG). Playford was a skilled administrator with a prodigious memory, who used these talents to control Parliament: in the eyes of the general public, he was the government. His pragmatic use of government resources to promote the development of South Australia were seen by some as socialistic, but his approach overall was a conservative one. Playford was returned twice as Premier with an absolute majority and once more in 1962 with support from independents, but was defeated by Labor in 1965 after the LCL became complacent and lethargic. This was the end of an era in more than just name: the impending collapse of the LCL and Labor's transformation under Dunstan ensured that the face of Party politics would never be the same again.

Playford resigned as leader of the LCL in 1966 and left the House of Assembly in 1968. He served on the board of the Electricity Trust of South Australia for ten years, and died in Adelaide in 1981.

A bust of Playford, by South Australian artist John Dowie AM, unveiled in 1973, is on displayed in Parliament House.

A portrait of Playford, by South Australian artist Sir Ivor Hele, hangs in Parliament House (since 1996).

16 June 1981