Premiers of South Australia Information & Premiers of South Australia Links at HealthHaven.com

Premier of South Australia
	Ministry
	Provincial/State
Incumbent:; Mike Rann
Style:	The Honourable
Appointed by:	Marjorie Jackson; as Governor of South Australia
First:	Boyle Finniss
Formation:	24 October 1856

See Premiers of the Australian states for a description and history of the office of Premier.

Before the 1890s, there was no formal party system in South Australia. The liberals dominated government from 1893 to 1905 with Labor support, with the conservatives mostly in opposition. Labor took government when they gained more seats than the liberals in 1905, which saw non-Labor politics begin to merge in to various party incarnations. The conservatives merged with the Liberal and Democratic Union (formed in 1906) to become the Liberal Union in 1910, when Labor formed South Australia's first majority government. No "Country" or rural conservative parties emerged as serious forces, often folding in to the non-Labor party.

[edit] List of Premiers in South Australia

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

No.	Name	Party	Assumed office	Left office	Period
1	Boyle Finniss		24 October 1856	21 August 1857	0 years, &0000000000000301.000000301 days
2	John Baker		21 August 1857	1 September 1857	0 years, &0000000000000011.00000011 days
3	Robert Torrens		1 September 1857	30 September 1857	0 years, &0000000000000029.00000029 days
4	Richard Hanson		30 September 1857	9 May 1860	&0000000000000002.0000002 years, &0000000000000222.000000222 days
5	Thomas Reynolds		9 May 1860	8 October 1861	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000152.000000152 days
6	George Waterhouse		8 October 1861	4 July 1863	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000269.000000269 days
7	Francis Dutton		4 July 1863	15 July 1863	0 years, &0000000000000011.00000011 days
8	Henry Ayers		15 July 1863	4 August 1864	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000020.00000020 days
9	Arthur Blyth		4 August 1864	22 March 1865	0 years, &0000000000000230.000000230 days
-	Francis Dutton (2nd time)		22 March 1865	20 September 1865	0 years, &0000000000000182.000000182 days Total - 193 days
-	Henry Ayers (2nd time)		20 September 1865	23 October 1865	0 years, &0000000000000033.00000033 days Total - 1 year, 53 days
10	John Hart		23 October 1865	28 March 1866	0 years, &0000000000000156.000000156 days
11	James Boucaut		28 March 1866	3 May 1867	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000036.00000036 days
-	Henry Ayers (3rd time)		3 May 1867	24 September 1868	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000144.000000144 days Total - 2 years, 197 days
-	John Hart (2nd time)		24 September 1868	13 October 1868	0 years, &0000000000000019.00000019 days Total - 175 days
-	Henry Ayers (4th time)		13 October 1868	3 November 1868	0 years, &0000000000000021.00000021 days Total - 2 years, 218 days
12	Henry Strangways		3 November 1868	30 May 1870	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000208.000000208 days
-	John Hart (3rd time)		30 May 1870	10 November 1871	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000164.000000164 days Total - 1 year, 339 days
-	Arthur Blyth (2nd time)		10 November 1871	22 January 1872	0 years, &0000000000000073.00000073 days Total - 303 days
-	Henry Ayers (5th time)		22 January 1872	22 July 1873	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000181.000000181 days Total - 4 years, 34 days
-	Arthur Blyth (3rd time)		22 July 1873	3 June 1875	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000316.000000316 days Total - 2 years, 254 days
-	James Boucaut (2nd time)		3 June 1875	6 June 1876	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000003.0000003 days Total - 2 years, 39 days
13	John Colton		6 June 1876	26 October 1877	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000142.000000142 days
-	James Boucaut (3rd time)		26 October 1877	27 September 1878	0 years, &0000000000000336.000000336 days Total - 3 years, 10 days
14	William Morgan		27 September 1878	24 June 1881	&0000000000000002.0000002 years, &0000000000000270.000000270 days
15	John Cox Bray		24 June 1881	16 June 1884	&0000000000000002.0000002 years, &0000000000000358.000000358 days
-	John Colton (2nd time)		16 June 1884	16 June 1885	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, 0 days Total - 2 years, 142 days
16	John Downer		16 June 1885	11 June 1887	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000360.000000360 days
17	Thomas Playford II		11 June 1887	27 June 1889	&0000000000000002.0000002 years, &0000000000000016.00000016 days
18	John Cockburn		27 June 1889	19 August 1890	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000053.00000053 days
-	Thomas Playford II (2nd time)		19 August 1890	21 June 1892	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000307.000000307 days Total - 3 years, 323 days
19	Frederick Holder		21 June 1892	15 October 1892	0 years, &0000000000000116.000000116 days
-	John Downer (2nd time)	conservatism^[1]	15 October 1892	16 June 1893	0 years, &0000000000000244.000000244 days Total - 2 year, 239 days
20	Charles Kingston	liberalism	16 June 1893	1 December 1899	&0000000000000006.0000006 years, &0000000000000168.000000168 days
21	Vaiben Solomon	conservatism	1 December 1899	8 December 1899	0 years, &0000000000000007.0000007 days
-	Frederick Holder (2nd time)	liberalism	8 December 1899	15 May 1901	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000158.000000158 days Total - 1 year, 274 days
22	John Jenkins	liberalism	15 May 1901	1 March 1905	&0000000000000003.0000003 years, &0000000000000290.000000290 days
23	Richard Butler	conservatism	1 March 1905	26 July 1905	0 years, &0000000000000147.000000147 days
24	Thomas Price	Australian Labor Party (Labor)	26 July 1905	5 June 1909	&0000000000000003.0000003 years, &0000000000000314.000000314 days
25	Archibald Peake	Liberal and Democratic Union	5 June 1909	3 June 1910	0 years, &0000000000000363.000000363 days
26	John Verran	Labor	3 June 1910	17 February 1912	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000259.000000259 days
-	Archibald Peake (2nd time)	Liberal Union	17 February 1912	3 April 1915	&0000000000000003.0000003 years, &0000000000000045.00000045 days Total - 4 years, 43 days
27	Crawford Vaughan	Labor	3 April 1915	14 July 1917	&0000000000000002.0000002 years, &0000000000000102.000000102 days
-	Archibald Peake (3rd time)	Liberal Union	14 July 1917	8 April 1920	&0000000000000002.0000002 years, &0000000000000269.000000269 days Total - 6 years, 312 days
28	Henry Barwell	Liberal Union/ Liberal Federation	8 April 1920	16 April 1924	&0000000000000004.0000004 years, &0000000000000008.0000008 days
29	John Gunn	Labor	16 April 1924	28 August 1926	&0000000000000002.0000002 years, &0000000000000134.000000134 days
30	Lionel Hill	Labor	28 August 1926	8 April 1927	0 years, &0000000000000223.000000223 days
31	Richard L. Butler	Liberal Federation	8 April 1927	17 April 1930	&0000000000000003.0000003 years, &0000000000000009.0000009 days
-	Lionel Hill (2nd time)	Labor	17 April 1930	13 February 1933	&0000000000000002.0000002 years, &0000000000000302.000000302 days Total - 3 years, 160 days
32	Robert Richards	Labor	13 February 1933	18 April 1933	0 years, &0000000000000064.00000064 days
-	Richard L. Butler (2nd time)	Liberal and Country League (LCL)	18 April 1933	5 November 1938	&0000000000000005.0000005 years, &0000000000000201.000000201 days Total - 8 years, 210 days
33	Thomas Playford IV	LCL	5 November 1938	10 March 1965	&0000000000000026.00000026 years, &0000000000000125.000000125 days
34	Frank Walsh	Labor	10 March 1965	1 June 1967	&0000000000000002.0000002 years, &0000000000000083.00000083 days
35	Don Dunstan	Labor	1 June 1967	17 April 1968	0 years, &0000000000000321.000000321 days
36	Steele Hall	LCL	17 April 1968	2 June 1970	&0000000000000002.0000002 years, &0000000000000046.00000046 days
-	Don Dunstan (2nd time)	Labor	2 June 1970	15 February 1979	&0000000000000008.0000008 years, &0000000000000258.000000258 days Total - 9 years, 214 days
37	Des Corcoran	Labor	15 February 1979	18 September 1979	0 years, &0000000000000215.000000215 days
38	David Tonkin	Liberal Party of Australia (Liberal)	18 September 1979	10 November 1982	&0000000000000003.0000003 years, &0000000000000053.00000053 days
39	John Bannon	Labor	10 November 1982	4 September 1992	&0000000000000009.0000009 years, &0000000000000299.000000299 days
40	Lynn Arnold	Labor	4 September 1992	14 December 1993	&0000000000000001.0000001 year, &0000000000000101.000000101 days
41	Dean Brown	Liberal	14 December 1993	28 November 1996	&0000000000000002.0000002 years, &0000000000000350.000000350 days
42	John Olsen	Liberal	28 November 1996	22 October 2001	&0000000000000004.0000004 years, &0000000000000328.000000328 days
43	Rob Kerin	Liberal	22 October 2001	5 April 2002	0 years, &0000000000000165.000000165 days
44	Mike Rann	Labor	5 April 2002	Incumbent	&0000000000000007.0000007 years, &0000000000000277.000000277 days^[2]

[edit] Graphical timeline since 1892

In the following timeline, the legend includes the Liberal and Democratic Union and later the Liberal Union with the Liberal Federation. The grey area represents duration of Playmander electoral malapportionment.

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

[edit] Living former premiers

As of November 2007^[update], six former premiers are alive, the oldest being Steele Hall (1968–70, born 1928). The most recent premier to die was Des Corcoran (1979), on 3 January 2004. The most recently-serving premier to die was Dr David Tonkin (1979–1982), on 2 October 2000.

Name	Term as premier	Date of birth
Steele Hall	1968–1970	28 November 1928 (1928-11-28) (age 81)
John Bannon	1982–1992	7 May 1943 (1943-05-07) (age 66)
Lynn Arnold	1992–1993	27 January 1949 (1949-01-27) (age 60)
Dean Brown	1993–1996	1943 (age 66–67)
John Olsen	1996–2001	7 June 1945 (1945-06-07) (age 64)
Rob Kerin	2001–2002	1954 (age 55–56)

[edit] References

^ 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.
^ As at 7 January 2010

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[ref1-0] 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.

[1] As at 7 January 2010

[1]

[2]