Charles Kingston

Charles Cameron Kingston, (October 22 1850 - May 11 1908) Australian politician, was Premier of South Australia and a member of the first Federal Parliament.

Kingston was born in Adelaide, the son of Sir George Kingston, a Protestant Irish-born surveyor, architect and landowner in the early days of British settlement in South Australia and later a member of the first South Australian Parliament. His mother, Ludovina, was of Portuguese descent. Kingston liked to boast that his father was the first white man to set foot on the site of Adelaide. This was probably not true, but certainly the Kingstons were among Adelaide's founding families. Charles was educated at a private school and served his articles with Sir Samuel Way, Adelaide's leading lawyer and later Attorney-General. He was called to the bar in 1873, and became a QC in 1889.

In 1873 Kingston married Lucy McCarthy. Lucy was an invalid for much of her life and they had no children. In a remarkable gesture, however, Lucy took in a child, Kevin Kingston, whom Kingston had fathered with another woman, Elizabeth Watson, in 1883. As a result of this scandal, Kingston was ostracised by Adelaide "society," his contempt for whom he never troubled to conceal. Kevin died in 1902.

In 1881 Kingston was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly as member for the working-class district of West Adelaide, as a radical liberal. He favoured universal suffrage, including votes for women, reform of the Legislative Council (which was dominated by wealthy landowners) and other radical reforms. He was rumoured to be a republican, an atheist and to favour the abolition of marriage, but none of these was true. He also favoured a White Australia, as did virtually all Australian politicians at this time.

Kingston was Attorney-General 1884-85 in the government of John Colton and again in 1887-89 in the government of Tom Playford. In 1893 he succeeded Playford as leader of the South Australian liberals, and he was Premier, Chief Secretary and Attorney-General 1893-99. He was also Minister for Industry 1895-99. A big, imposing man with a full beard, a booming voice and a violent, cutting debating style, Kingston dominated the small world of South Australian colonial politics in the 1890s. He was a great hero to liberals and working class voters, and much hated by conservatives.

A leading supporter of Federation, Kingston was a delegate to the Constitutional Conventions of 1891 and 1897-98 which worked to draft an Australian Constitution. In 1897 he travelled to London for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, where he was made a Privy Councillor and awarded an honorary Doctor of Civil Laws degree by Oxford University. While there he lobbied senior British politicians in favour of Australian federation.

In 1899 Kingston's government was defeated in the House on a bill relating to the reform of the Legislative Council, leading to Kingston's resignation as Premier. By this time, however, he was more interested in federal politics, as the six Australian colonies moved towards federation. He was a leading figure in the popular movement for federation, and in 1900 he travelled to London with Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin to oversee the passage of the federation bill through the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

When the Constitution came into effect on 1 January 1901, Barton formed the first federal ministry, and Kingston was appointed Minister for Trade and Customs. In March 1901 he was elected as one of South Australia's seven members of the first Australian House of Representatives. (South Australia was not divided into electoral Divisions in time for the election, and Kingston topped the statewide poll with 65% of the vote.) In 1903 he became the first member for the Division of Adelaide.

Kingston was a "high protectionist" - he favoured very high tariffs to protect Australia's fledgling manufacturing industries. Most of his time as minister was spent negotiating a customs bill through both houses of the Parliament, since no one party had a majority in either House and the forces of the Free Trade Party resisted his bill at every stage. Negotiating with his opponents was not among Kingston's many talents, and his bullying style made him many enemies. In July 1903 he resigned suddenly in a fit of anger at what he saw as opposition obstruction, and never held office again. He remained as Member for Adelaide until his sudden death in May 1908.