Thomas Playford IV

Thomas Playford (1938)

Sir Thomas Playford KCMG (* 5. July 1896 in Norton Summit , South Australia ; † 16th June 1981 in Adelaide , South Australia) was an Australian politician of the Liberal and Country League (LCL) and long-time Prime Minister of South Australia.

Life

Playford was the grandson of the politician of the same name Thomas Playford , who was also Prime Minister of South Australia between 1887 and 1889 and from 1890 to 1892. During the First World War he fought his world war as a lieutenant and took part in the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915 and then in battles in France , where he was seriously wounded.

His political career in the state of South Australia began in 1933 when he was elected Member of Parliament, which he served until he resigned in 1967.

On November 5, 1938, he succeeded his fellow party member Richard Layton Butler as Prime Minister of South Australia . At the same time he was successor to Butler as chairman of the Liberal and Country League between 1938 and 1966.

In 1957 he received the knighthood and, as Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, from then on carried the suffix Sir. After his Liberal and Country League suffered an election defeat in the elections to the parliament of South Australia in 1965, he lost the office of Prime Minister on March 10, 1965 to the candidate of the Australian Labor Party , Frank Walsh . With a tenure of over 26 years, he was the prime minister of this state with the longest term in office. At the same time he was Treasurer of South Australia during his tenure .

Web links

• Biography (rulers.org)