Sir Thomas Bavin | |
---|---|
24th Premier of New South Wales | |
In office 18 October 1927 –4 November 1930 | |
Preceded by | Jack Lang |
Succeeded by | Jack Lang |
Constituency | Gordon (1917–20) Ryde (1920–27) Gordon (1927–35) |
Personal details | |
Born | Thomas Rainsford Bavin 5 May 1874 Kaiapoi,Canterbury,New Zealand |
Died | 31 August 1941 67) Bellevue Hill,New South Wales,Australia | (aged
Nationality | Australian |
Political party | Nationalist |
Spouse | Edyth Winchcombe |
Education | Newington College University of Sydney |
Sir Thomas Rainsford Bavin, KCMG , KC (5 May 1874 –31 August 1941) was an Australian lawyer and politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1927 to 1930. He was born in New Zealand and arrived in Australia at the age of 15,where he studied law and became a barrister. He served as personal secretary to Australia's first two prime ministers,Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin. Bavin was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1917. He served two terms as Attorney General of New South Wales (1921,1922–1925) before leading the Nationalist Party to victory at the 1927 state election,in a coalition with the Country Party. His predecessor Jack Lang and the Australian Labor Party (ALP) defeated his government after a single term at the 1930 state election.
Born in Kaiapoi,New Zealand to a Methodist minister and his wife,Bavin was educated at Auckland Grammar School until 1889 when his family moved to Sydney and Bavin enrolled at Newington College (1889–1890). [1] His siblings were:Edna (Mrs Charles Lack);Jessie (Mrs Ambrose Fletcher);Gertrude (Mrs William Parker);Major Cyril Bavin OBE;Horace Bavin;Florence Bavin (Mrs Ernest Warren);Lancelot Bavin;and Dora Bavin (Mrs Leslie Allen). [2] At the University of Sydney he came into conflict with his parents by renouncing Methodism (he later converted to Anglicanism),and graduated with a BA in 1894 and LL.B in 1897,winning the University Medal in the process. [3]
Called to the New South Wales Bar in 1897,Bavin became involved in the cause of Australian Federation,unsuccessfully standing for the Legislative Assembly seat of Canterbury on a pro-Federation platform in 1898. After lecturing in law at the University of Tasmania in 1900 where he was acting professor of law, [4] Bavin returned to Sydney to marry Edyth Winchcombe,the daughter of Frederick Winchcombe,a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and Council,on 6 February 1901. [3]
Bavin first met Edmund Barton during their shared involvement in the federation movement. [5] In 1901,after a chance encounter at an Albury railway station,Barton appointed him as his private secretary in place of Atlee Hunt,who had received a promotion. [6] Bavin found Barton easily distracted and unable or willing to deal with routine administrative matters,later recalling that "having done his greatest work Barton was no longer very interested in the result". [7] When Barton resigned to become a judge on the High Court,Bavin became his associate but also continued on as private secretary to Barton's successor Alfred Deakin. [3]
Bavin returned to the Bar in 1904 but found briefs scarce and so began writing op-ed pieces for Sydney newspapers,and,along with Deakin,serve as the Australian correspondent for the London Morning Post from 1907 to 1911. [8] In 1913,he inquired into food supplies and prices and went to sea on the trawlers to investigate pricing of fish in detail. He recommended an anti-monopoly bureau that could investigate prices and recommend prosecutions. Bavin was elected as an alderman to Willoughby Municipal Council in 1910. [3] When World War I broke out he became a naval intelligence officer. [4]
Bavin's attempts to enter federal parliament were thwarted,thrice losing Commonwealth Liberal Party pre-selection,due partly to his support for greater social welfare expenditure. He gained pre-selection for the Legislative Assembly seat of Albury in 1916 but the election was deferred until 1917,when he was elected as the Nationalist Party member for Gordon,a seat which he held until 1935,except during the period of proportional representation (1920–1927) when he was a member for Ryde. [3] [9]
Following his election,Bavin rapidly rose through the parliamentary ranks,becoming deputy leader of the Nationalists in October 1920 and serving as Attorney-General and Minister for Justice in 1921 and Attorney-General of New South Wales from 1922 to 1925. After the Nationalist loss at the 1925 election,Bavin was elected party leader,and therefore Leader of the Opposition.
Following an agreement by the Nationalist and Country parties not to stand candidates against each other,the coalition won the 1927 election and Bavin became Premier and Treasurer on 18 October 1927.
During his term as Premier,Bavin introduced the Income Tax (Management) Act (1928),under which the incomes of husband and wife were combined,and a progressive tax system was introduced,angering many of his conservative supporters. In reaction to Labor Party calls to abolish the Legislative Council,Bavin pushed through legislation requiring a referendum to do so.
Bavin was plagued by ill-health throughout his Premiership,meaning that he was absent him from Cabinet during crucial times,especially in the wake of the Great Depression after 1929. Faced with a growing number of strikes,Bavin turned to non-unionised labour,which led to violent confrontations between striking workers and police,notably the Rothbury riot in December 1929.
Following the Nationalists' loss in the 1930 election,Bavin continued to lead the party until 1932,when he joined the newly created United Australia Party. Appointed KCMG in 1933,Bavin retired from politics in 1935 to serve as a Justice of the New South Wales Supreme Court. Bavin also returned to writing,authoring a number of books,including Thomas Rainsford Bavin:Extracts from his Speeches from 1923 until 1932 (1933),and Sir Henry Parkes:His Life and Work (1941).
Bavin died of cancer in the Sydney suburb of Bellevue Hill,survived by his wife,son and three daughters. [3] His well-attended funeral was held at St. Andrew's Cathedral,Sydney on 2 September 1941. He was later cremated at Northern Suburbs Crematorium. [10]
Bavin was appointed KCMG in 1933. [8] [11]
In 2021 Bavin house at Newington College was named after him.
Sir Edmund "Toby" Barton was an Australian politician,barrister and jurist who served as the first prime minister of Australia from 1901 to 1903. He held office as the leader of the Protectionist Party,before resigning in 1903 to become a founding justice of the High Court of Australia,on which he served until his death in 1920. Barton is regarded as a founding father of Australia,a principal leader in the federation of the Australian colonies and a drafter of the Commonwealth Constitution.
Sir William John Lyne KCMG was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1899 to 1901,and later as a federal cabinet minister under Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin. He is best known as the subject of the so called "Hopetoun Blunder",unexpectedly being asked to serve as the first Prime Minister of Australia but proving unable to form a government.
Sir Bertram Sydney Barnsdale Stevens,also referred to as B. S. B. Stevens,was an Australian politician who served as the 25th Premier of New South Wales,in office from 1932 to 1939 as leader of the United Australia Party (UAP).
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Reginald Walter Darcy Weaver was an Australian conservative parliamentarian who served in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for 28 years. Serving from 1917 in the backbenches,he entered the cabinet of Thomas Bavin in 1929 as Secretary for Mines and Minister for Forests until he returned to opposition in 1930. Following the success of the United Australia Party in the 1932 election,Weaver returned as the Secretary for Public Works and Minister for Health in the Stevens ministry.
Sir Thomas Thomson Ewing KCMG was an Australian politician. He began his career in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (1885–1901) before winning election to the Division of Richmond at the inaugural 1901 federal election. He held ministerial office in the second Deakin government as Vice-President of the Executive Council (1905–1906),Minister for Home Affairs (1906–1907),and Minister for Defence (1907–1908).
Albert Lane was an Australian politician. He was a Nationalist Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Balmain from 1922 to 1927 and a United Australia Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1931 to 1940.
Frederick Earle Winchcombe (1855–1917) was an Australian businessman and member of the New South Wales Parliament.
The 1927 New South Wales state election to elect the 90 members of the 28th Legislative Assembly was held on 8 October 1927. During the previous parliament the voting system,Single transferable voting,a form of proportional representation with multi-member seats,had been changed to single member constituencies and Instant-runoff voting.
The 1930 New South Wales state election was held on 25 October 1930. The election was conducted in single member constituencies with compulsory preferential voting. The election occurred at the height of the Great Depression and was a landslide victory for the expansionary monetary policies of Jack Lang.
The Lang ministry (1927) or Second Lang ministry or Lang Reconstruction ministry was the 43rd ministry of the New South Wales Government,and was led by the 23rd Premier,Jack Lang. This ministry was the second of three ministries where Lang was Premier.
The Bavin ministry was the 44th ministry of the New South Wales Government,and was led by the 24th Premier,Thomas Bavin,in a Nationalist coalition with the Country Party,led by Ernest Buttenshaw.
The Stevens–Bruxner ministry (1932–1935) or First Stevens–Bruxner ministry or First Stevens ministry was the 46th ministry of the New South Wales Government,and was led by the 25th Premier,Bertram Stevens,in a United Australia Party coalition with the Country Party,that was led by Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Bruxner,DSO. The ministry was one of three occasions when the Government was led by Stevens,as Premier;and one of four occasions where Bruxner served as Deputy Premier.
The Stevens–Bruxner ministry (1935–1938) or Second Stevens–Bruxner ministry or Second Stevens ministry was the 47th ministry of the New South Wales Government,and was led by the 25th Premier,Bertram Stevens,in a United Australia Party coalition with the Country Party,that was led by Michael Bruxner. The ministry was the second one of three occasions when the Government was led by Stevens,as Premier;and second of four occasions where Bruxner served as Deputy Premier.
The Stevens–Bruxner ministry (1938–1939) or Third Stevens–Bruxner ministry or Third Stevens ministry was the 48th ministry of the New South Wales Government,and was led by the 25th Premier,Bertram Stevens,in a United Australia Party coalition with the Country Party,that was led by Michael Bruxner. The ministry was the third of three occasions when the Government was led by Stevens,as Premier;and third of four occasions where Bruxner served as Deputy Premier.
Richard Thomas Ball was a politician and engineer in New South Wales,Australia.
William Arthur Parker was an Australian barrister who served as Master in Equity and Master in Lunacy in the Supreme Court of New South Wales from 1918 until 1940.
Cyril Bavin OBE was a New Zealand-born Australian Methodist minister and missionary to Fiji who became General Secretary to the YMCA Migration Department and Honorary Secretary of the Migration Bureau of the Overseas League based in London. He was an advocate of mass migration from Britain to Canada,Australia and New Zealand both as a way to alleviate poverty in the mother country and as a means of building up the economy of these countries.
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Gordon on 8 November 1935 because of the resignation of Sir Thomas Bavin who had accepted an appointment as a Judge of the Supreme Court.