Labor History Lectures 2016 Professor Philip Payton

A world first by Professor Payton (Wednesday 4 May 2016)

This is the third in the series of the Foundation’s SA History Festival lectures by Professor Philip Payton, tracing the history of the Labor movement in South Australia and its origin’s in the Cornish copper mining

In 1910 a majority Labor Government was elected for the first time in South Australia – and the world. The new Premier John Verran, from the copper mining town of Wallaroo had a progressive agenda that was shaped by his radical Cornish background.

This talk charts the varying fortunes of Verran’s government from election to defeat in 1912, highlighting in particular the role of the Legislative Council in opposing social democratic policies. It also sketches Verran’s increasingly fraught relationship with the wider Labor movement, especially the trade unions.