Edgar Dawes
{{Short description|Australian politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{Use Australian English|date=January 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Edgar Dawes
|image = Edgar Dawes.jpg
|image_size = 120px
|order = Leader of the South Australian Labor Party
|predecessor = Lionel Hill
|successor = Andrew Lacey
|term_start = 12 May 1932
|term_end = 22 April 1933
|constituency_MP1 = Sturt
|parliament1 = South Australian
|predecessor1 = Edward Vardon
|successor1 = Horace Hogben
|term_start1 = 5 April 1930
|term_end1 = 8 April 1933
|birth_name = Edgar Rowland Dawes
|birth_place = Stepney, South Australia
|death_place = Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia
|birth_date = 28 November 1902
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1973|8|5|1902|11|28}}
|party = Australian Labor Party (SA)
|spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Adeline Melba Hurcombe|28 August 1926|7 February 1965| end = died}}
- {{marriage|Patricia Margaret Henderson|3 March 1966|5 August 1973| end = died}}
}}
}}
Edgar Rowland Dawes (28 November 1902 – 5 August 1973) was an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1930 until 1933, representing the electorate of Sturt. He was the leader of the official Labor Party in South Australia in the aftermath of the 1931 Labor split from May 1932 until his defeat at the 1933 state election.{{Cite SA-parl |pid=3697 |name=Mr Edgar Dawes CMG |former=yes |access-date=23 August 2022}}{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |id2=dawes-edgar-rowland-9925 |title=Dawes, Edgar Rowland (1902–1973) |last=Brazier |first=Jan |access-date=23 August 2022}}
Early life
Dawes was born at Stepney, South Australia and was educated at Norwood School and Norwood High School. He apprenticed as an engineer at A. W. Dobbie & Co. Ltd., and later worked as a fitter and turner at the Islington Railway Workshops.{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129343378 |title=EDUCATIONAL PRESIDENT |newspaper=The News |volume=X |issue=1,464 |location=Adelaide |date=23 March 1928 |access-date=26 December 2016 |page=6 (HOME EDITION) |via=Trove}}{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44991220 |title=NEW A.B.C. MEMBER. |newspaper=The West Australian |volume=60 |issue=18,241 |date=27 December 1944 |access-date=26 December 2016 |page=4 |via=Trove}} He was the secretary of the South Australian branch of the Australian Society of Engineers from 1927 to 1941, president of the United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia in 1930–1931, and state president of the Labor Party.{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90492097 |title=LABOR NEWS |newspaper=The Chronicle |volume=LXXIII |issue=3,846 |location=Adelaide |date=14 August 1930 |access-date=26 December 2016 |page=45 |via=Trove}}{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article77953584 |title=Adelaide By-Election. |newspaper=The Border Watch |volume=LXXI |issue=7263 |location=South Australia |date=21 July 1931 |access-date=26 December 2016 |page=4 |via=Trove}}{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131401523 |title=SPECIAL LABOR MEETING |newspaper=The News |volume=XXVIII |issue=4,209 |location=Adelaide |date=18 January 1937 |access-date=26 December 2016 |page=3 |via=Trove}}
Parliamentary career and Labor leadership
Dawes was elected to the House of Assembly in the Labor victory at the 1930 election, defeating a Liberal Federation MP in the multi-member Sturt electorate.{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90057898 |title=STATE ELECTION RESULTS |newspaper=The Chronicle |volume=LXXII |issue=3,839 |location=Adelaide |date=17 April 1930 |access-date=26 December 2016 |page=43 |via=Trove}} He remained loyal to official Labor in the 1931 Labor split, and as state president of the Labor Party, wound up being a spokesperson for the party during the split. In May 1932, when the remaining six-member Labor caucus decided to elect a parliamentary leader, they selected Dawes.{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29955072 |title=S.A. LABOUR PARTY |newspaper=The Mercury |volume=CXXXVI |issue=20,206 |location=Tasmania|date=13 May 1932 |access-date=26 December 2016 |page=12 |via=Trove}} Dawes elected to recontest Sturt at the April 1933 election even though it was a close marginal seat, and in the aftermath of the split lost to a Liberal Federation candidate.{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61716342 |title=S.A. ELECTIONS. |newspaper=Townsville Daily Bulletin |volume=LV |issue=85 |location=Queensland|date=10 April 1933 |access-date=26 December 2016 |page=4 |via=Trove}}
After state politics
Dawes was an unsuccessful candidate for the Australian Senate at the 1937 election and for the electorate of Adelaide at the 1940 federal election. In 1940, one newspaper described him as "one of the best known men in the Labor movement...and the strongest man in the party".{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206190037 |title=SOUTH AUSTRALIA. |newspaper=The Age |issue=25530 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=11 February 1937 |access-date=26 December 2016 |page=10 |via=Trove}}{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110230552 |title=MR. E. R. DAWES, Senate Candidate. |newspaper=The Times and Northern Advertiser, Peterborough, South Australia |date=22 October 1937 |access-date=26 December 2016 |page=1 |via=Trove}}
Post-politics, he worked for the state Department of Munitions from 1940 to 1945 and was vice-chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 1944 to 1967. He was also a board member of the Royal Adelaide Hospital from 1933 to 1972, a council member of the Australian National University from 1951 to 1955, chair of the executive committee of the Adelaide Festival of Arts, and member of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital board and the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science council.
After his first wife died, he married 24 year-old Patricia Henderson in March 1966. Dawes died at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in Adelaide in 1973.[http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dawes-edgar-rowland-9925 Australian Dictionary of Biography - Dawes, Edgar Rowland]
References
{{Reflist}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-par|au-sa}}
{{s-bef|before=Herbert Richards
Edward Vardon}}
{{s-ttl | title=Member for Sturt | years= 1930–1933 | alongside=Dale, Anthoney}}
{{s-aft | after =Henry Dunks
Horace Hogben}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=Lionel Hill}}
{{s-ttl|title=Leader of the Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch)|years=1931{{spaced ndash}}1933}}
{{s-aft|after= Andrew Lacey}}
{{s-end}}
{{Leaders of the Australian Labor Party (SA division)}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawes, Edgar}}
Category:Members of the South Australian House of Assembly
Category:Place of birth missing
Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of South Australia