Arthur Fadden

Arthur William Fadden

Sir Arthur William Fadden (born April 13, 1894 in Ingham , Queensland , † April 21, 1973 in Brisbane , Queensland, Australia ) was the 13th Prime Minister of Australia . His term of office lasted only 40 days from August 29, 1941 to October 7, 1941. After that, he was opposition leader from October 8, 1941 to September 23, 1943.

The time before he became Prime Minister (until August 1941)

Arthur Fadden was the oldest of ten children of Irish immigrants Richard and Annie Fadden, b. Moorhead. Since his father, an officer in the Mounted Police, was transferred to Walkerston , near Mackay , he went to school there.

In 1909 he began to work on the local sugar cane plantation before becoming an assistant in a sugar mill a little later. At the age of 19 he became assistant to the city manager of Mackay until he was appointed city manager himself in 1916 after completing his training as an accountant due to his skills. On December 27, 1916, he married Ilma Nita Thornber, with whom he had four children. In September 1918 he went to Townsville as a self-employed accountant .

There he developed his interest in politics and in 1930 became a member of the Townsville City Council. He joined Queensland's Country and Progressive National Party , for which he was able to win the seat of the Kennedy constituency in the state parliament in 1932. In the Australian House of Representatives he was elected in the by-elections on November 19, 1936 as a representative of the Country Party (CP) .

After three ministers from the cabinet of then Prime Minister Robert Menzies were killed in a plane crash on August 13, 1940 - Arthur Fadden originally wanted to take the same flight to Canberra - he was ironically appointed Minister for Civil Aviation and Minister for a day later the Luftwaffe was added to the cabinet. In a cabinet reshuffle in October of the same year, he finally became Australian Treasury Secretary for the first time, his direct successor in the Aviation Ministries was John McEwen .

In late 1940, the Country Party chairmanship election came to a stalemate between candidates Earle Page and John McEwen , so Arthur Fadden was named temporary chairman according to a compromise. On March 13, 1941, however, he was confirmed as party chairman.

The time as Prime Minister (August to October 1941)

In order to avoid the spread of a political crisis, Robert Menzies resigned on the advice of his party of the United Australia Party (UAP) and his coalition partner of the Country Party , so that Fadden could take over the office of Prime Minister with an otherwise unchanged cabinet.

Like that of his predecessor, Fadden's government had the problem of having to rely on the toleration of two independent parliamentarians in the House of Representatives. In view of the war time in which one found himself, he sounded out ways of forming a government that included all parties represented in parliament. However, this failed due to the resistance of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under John Curtin . On October 3, the two independent parliamentarians finally voted against Fadden's budget law for the coming year. A majority for his government could no longer be found, which consequently led to his replacement in office on October 7th.

The time after he was Prime Minister (from October 1941)

Arthur Fadden was now opposition leader in the Australian Parliament. In the upcoming elections on August 21, 1943, he and the Conservatives suffered a clear defeat. He was also forced to hand over the leadership of the opposition to Robert Menzies. However, he remained party chairman of the Country Party for the next 17 years.

After the parliamentary elections of December 10, 1949, the Liberal Party of Australia (LP) , which was reformed in 1944, and the Country Party were able to form a government again under the renewed leadership of Robert Menzies. Fadden became finance minister for the second time, a position he maintained until he retired.

In 1951 he was first knighted as Knight Commander (KCMG) of the Order of St. Michael and St. George . In 1958 his status within the order was increased to the Knight Grand Cross (GCMG).

On March 26, 1958, he gave up the chairmanship of the Country Party . On November 22nd of the same year, he resigned his parliamentary mandate and was replaced as Minister of Finance by Harold Holt on December 10th .

After quiet years as a pensioner, he passed away on April 21, 1973, a good two weeks after his 79th birthday in Brisbane.

A borough of Canberra and a constituency in Queensland were named in his honor.

literature

• Margaret Bridson Cribb: Fadden, Sir Arthur William (1894–1973) . In: Douglas Pike (Ed.): Australian Dictionary of Biography . Volume 14. Melbourne University Press, Carlton (Victoria) 1996, ISBN 0-522-84717-X (English).