Playford, Cavanagh, and the Plasterers' Society of South Australia 1945-63

Most people in South Australia with an historical bent are aware of 'the Playford legend'. This holds that, during his record 27 years as premier of South Australia between 1938 and 1965, the leader os the Liberal and Country League (LCL), Sir Thomas Playford, transformed the state's economy from one more or less dependent upon primary industries to one more reliant on secondary industries. There is no doubt that, due to its dependence upon the products of agriculture, sheep-farming and horticulture, South Australia suffered greatly - probably more than any other state - during the Great Depression of the early 1930s.2 Its prosperity plummeted and its unemployment rate spiralled. To ensure that such a catastrophe never occurred again - or at least in such proportions - Playford set about attracting secondary industry to South Australia, a programme which, according to the legend, achieved spectacular and unparalleled success as early as the 1940s.3