Don Dunstan
|
|
Donald Allan Dunstan AC QC (September 21, 1926 - 6 February, 1999), Australian politician, was Premier of South Australia between June 1, 1967 and April 17, 1968 and then subsequently between June 2, 1970 and February 15, 1979. He is remembered as one of the main leaders in the Australian Labor Party during the 1970s and played a significant role in rekindling the party's political success.
| Contents |
Early life
Dunstan was born in Suva, Fiji to Australian parents. Health problems forced him to leave the tropical climate of Fiji to live with relatives in Murray Bridge, South Australia. He attended Murray Bridge High School and then St. Peters College on a scholarship. Dunstan was remembered by his schoolmates as unpopular because he befriended Indian and Fijian immigrants and refused to share the racism that was endemic in white Australia at the time.
Dunstan began studying for a degree in Law at the University of Adelaide and after a brief flirtation with the Liberal and Country League, he became a member of the ALP. He married his first wife, Gretel, with whom he had three children. After graduating he practised law in Fiji, but he returned to Adelaide in 1951. Dunstan was nominated and elected as the State Member for Norwood in 1953. He was made a Queen's Counsel in 1965.
Life in politics
When Labor gained power in 1965 under Frank Walsh, Dunstan became Attorney-General and Minister of Community Welfare and Aboriginal Affairs and in 1967, he became Premier of South Australia for the first time. After Labor lost power in 1968, he remained the party's Parliamentary leader and when Labor was returned to power in 1970, he once again became Premier.
Dunstan reformed the government of the socially conservative South Australia into the most progressive state in Australia. Legislation was passed to prohibit discrimination against women, gay and lesbian people and indigenous Australians. His government made South Australia the leader on Aboriginal land rights and reformed electoral law to prevent the reintroduction of the gerrymander.
Dunstan was a passionate lover of the Arts and South Australia and Adelaide became a national leader in the Arts. The Government transformed the Adelaide City Baths into the Adelaide Festival Centre. The Dunstan Government dramatically expanded the Adelaide Festival of Arts.
In 1972 he and Gretel separated, and in 1974, they divorced. Dunstan remarried in 1976 to Adele Koh, a member of his staff. Dunstan's love of food always having been well known, he became the first and only state premier to release a cookbook in 1976. Another prominent member of his staff was Mike Rann, the current Premier of South Australia. After the death of his wife and because of his own health problems and political controversies, he resigned as Premier and from Parliament on February 15, 1979.
Life after politics
After leaving politics, Dunstan became the Director of Tourism Victoria until 1986 when he moved back to Adelaide. He was national president of the Freedom from Hunger Campaign (1982-87), president of the Movement for Democracy in Fiji (from 1987), and national chairman of Community Aid Abroad (1992-93). Dunstan was an adjunct professor at the University of Adelaide from 1997 until 1999.
In 1986, he met his future partner, Stephen Cheng, with whom he would open a restaurant called "Don's Table" in 1994. It has been widely assumed that Dunstan was either gay or bisexual because of his relationship with Cheng, however he never explicitly stated that he was gay. He lived with Cheng in their Norwood home until his death from cancer on 6 February, 1999. In 2005 Cheng claimed entitlement to Dunstan's parliamentary pension on the basis of his claimed de facto spousal relationship with Dunstan.
External links
- Don Dunstan Foundation (http://www.dondunstan.org.au)
| Preceded by: Frank Walsh | Premier of South Australia 1967–1968 | Succeeded by: Steele Hall |
| Preceded by: Steele Hall | Premier of South Australia 1970–1979 | Succeeded by: Des Corcoran |