Jim' Toohey (1909 - 1992) : the 'Father' of the Labor Party in South Australia

In the decades after World War II, the two leading members of the South Australian branch of the Australian Labor Party – Clyde Cameron and Jim Toohey – formed a unique partnership and played a pivotal role in determining its character. From the late 1940s to at least the mid 1970s the branch was, unlike its counterparts in the eastern states, not only ideologically left-of-centre but also remarkably united. Through it Cameron and Toohey influenced the course of Australian labour history. Cameron has always been seen as the more prominent and controversial partner and little attention has been paid to Toohey. By focussing on ‘the other half’ of this duumvirate we better understand not only why relations within the branch were so harmonious during this period but also why in the mid 1950s the New South Wales branch did not split in two and why the 1960s and 1970s are known in South Australia as the Dunstan era.