Premier of South Australia

The **premier of South Australia** is the head of the South Australian government. They are the leaders of the political party which has a majority of the seats in the Legislative Assembly. Before the 1890s when there was no formal party system in South Australia, politicians usually held liberal or conservative beliefs. The liberals dominated government from 1893 to 1905 with Labor support, with the conservatives mostly in opposition. Labor took government with the support of eight liberals in 1905 when Labor gained more seats than the liberals. The rise of Labor meant the other groups began to become anti-labor parties. The conservatives merged with the Liberal and Democratic Union (formed in 1906) to become the Liberal Union in 1910. No "country" or rural conservative parties have lasted in South Australian state politics.

Labor formed South Australia's first majority government after winning the 1910 state election. This was two weeks after federal Labor formed Australia's first majority government after winning the 1910 federal election.

## List of Premiers of South Australia

The first six Governors of South Australia ran the government from 1836 until responsible government was began in 1856.

|No.||Name||Party||Assumed office||Left office||Period||Picture|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|B.T. Finniss||24 October 1856|21 August 1857|||||||||
|2|John Baker||21 August 1857|1 September 1857|||||||||
|3|Robert Torrens||1 September 1857||||||||||
|4|Richard Hanson|||9 May 1860|||||||||
|5|Thomas Reynolds||9 May 1860|8 October 1861|||||||||
|6|George Waterhouse||8 October 1861|4 July 1863|||||||||
|7|Francis Dutton||4 July 1863|15 July 1863|||||||||
|8|Henry Ayers||15 July 1863|4 August 1864|||||||||
|9|Arthur Blyth||4 August 1864|22 March 1865|||||||||
|-|Francis Dutton _(2nd time)_ |||22 March 1865|20 September 1865|_Total - 193 days_|||||||||
|-|Henry Ayers _(2nd time)_ |||20 September 1865|23 October 1865||||||||||
|10|John Hart||23 October 1865|28 March 1866|||||||||
|11|James Boucaut||28 March 1866|3 May 1867|||||||||
|-|Henry Ayers _(3rd time)_ |||3 May 1867|24 September 1868|_Total - 2 years, 197 days_|||||||||
|-|John Hart _(2nd time)_ |||24 September 1868|13 October 1868|_Total - 175 days_|||||||||
|-|Henry Ayers _(4th time)_ |||13 October 1868|3 November 1868||||||||||
|12|Henry Strangways||3 November 1868|30 May 1870|||||||||
|-|John Hart _(3rd time)_ |||30 May 1870|10 November 1871|_Total - 1 year, 339 days_|||||||||
|-|Arthur Blyth _(2nd time)_ |||10 November 1871|22 January 1872|_Total - 303 days_|||||||||
|-|Henry Ayers _(5th time)_ |||22 January 1872|22 July 1873|_Total - 4 years, 34 days_|||||||||
|-|Arthur Blyth _(3rd time)_ |||22 July 1873|3 June 1875|_Total - 2 years, 254 days_|||||||||
|-|James Boucaut _(2nd time)_ |||3 June 1875|6 June 1876|_Total - 2 years, 39 days_|||||||||
|13|John Colton||6 June 1876|26 October 1877|||||||||
|-|James Boucaut _(3rd time)_ |||26 October 1877|27 September 1878|_Total - 3 years, 10 days_|||||||||
|14|William Morgan||27 September 1878|24 June 1881|||||||||
|15|John Cox Bray||24 June 1881|16 June 1884|||||||||
|-|John Colton _(2nd time)_ |||16 June 1884|16 June 1885|_Total - 2 years, 142 days_|||||||||
|16|John Downer||16 June 1885|11 June 1887|||||||||
|17|Thomas Playford II||11 June 1887|27 June 1889|||||||||
|18|John Cockburn||27 June 1889|19 August 1890|||||||||
|-|Thomas Playford II _(2nd time)_ |||19 August 1890|21 June 1892|_Total - 3 years, 323 days_|||||||||
|19|Frederick Holder||21 June 1892|15 October 1892|||||||||
|-|John Downer _(2nd time)_|conservatism|15 October 1892|16 June 1893|_Total - 2 year, 239 days_||||||||
|20|Charles Kingston|liberalism|16 June 1893|1 December 1899|||||||||
|21|Vaiben Solomon|conservatism|1 December 1899|8 December 1899|||||||||
|-|Frederick Holder _(2nd time)_ || liberalism|8 December 1899|15 May 1901|_Total - 1 year, 274 days_|||||||||
|22|John Jenkins|liberalism|15 May 1901|1 March 1905|||||||||
|23|Richard Butler|conservatism|1 March 1905|26 July 1905|||||||||
|24|Thomas Price|Australian Labor Party (Labor)|26 July 1905|5 June 1909|||||||||
|25|Archibald Peake|Liberal and Democratic Union|5 June 1909|3 June 1910|||||||||
|26|John Verran|Labor|3 June 1910|17 February 1912|||||||||
|-|Archibald Peake _(2nd time)_ || Liberal Union|17 February 1912|3 April 1915|_Total - 4 years, 43 days_|||||||||
|27|Crawford Vaughan|Labor|3 April 1915|14 July 1917|||||||||
|-|Archibald Peake _(3rd time)_ || Liberal Union|14 July 1917|8 April 1920|_Total - 6 years, 312 days_|||||||||
|28|Henry Barwell|Liberal Union/ Liberal Federation|8 April 1920|16 April 1924|||||||||
|29|John Gunn|Labor|16 April 1924|28 August 1926|||||||||
|30|Lionel Hill|Labor|28 August 1926|8 April 1927|||||||||
|31|Richard Layton Butler|Liberal Federation|8 April 1927|17 April 1930|||||||||
|-|Lionel Hill _(2nd time)_|Labor|17 April 1930|13 February 1933|_Total - 3 years, 160 days_||||||||
|32|Robert Richards|Labor|13 February 1933|18 April 1933|||||||||
|-|Richard Layton Butler _(2nd time)_|Liberal and Country League (LCL)|18 April 1933|5 November 1938|_Total - 8 years, 210 days_||||||||
|33|Thomas Playford IV|LCL|5 November 1938|10 March 1965|||||||||
|34|Frank Walsh|Labor|10 March 1965|1 June 1967|||||||||
|35|Don Dunstan|Labor|1 June 1967|17 April 1968|||||||||
|36|Steele Hall|LCL|17 April 1968|2 June 1970|||||||||
|-|Don Dunstan _(2nd time)_|Labor|2 June 1970|15 February 1979|_Total - 9 years, 214 days_||||||||
|37|Des Corcoran|Labor|15 February 1979|18 September 1979|||||||||
|38|David Tonkin|Liberal Party of Australia (Liberal)|18 September 1979|10 November 1982|||||||||
|39|John Bannon|Labor|10 November 1982|4 September 1992|||||||||
|40|Lynn Arnold|Labor|4 September 1992|14 December 1993|||||||||
|41|Dean Brown|Liberal|14 December 1993|28 November 1996|||||||||
|42|John Olsen|Liberal|28 November 1996|22 October 2001|||||||||
|43|Rob Kerin|Liberal|22 October 2001|5 March 2002|||||||||
|44|Mike Rann|Labor|5 March 2002|21 October 2011|||||||||
|45|Jay Weatherill|Labor|21 October 2011|19 March 2018|||||||||
|46|Steven Marshall|Liberal|19 March 2018|21 March 2022|||||||||
|47|Peter Malinauskas|Labor|21 March 2022|Incumbent|||||||||

## Infobox (official post)

- **post**: Premier
- **body**: South Australia
- **flag**: File:Flag of South Australia.svg
- **flagsize**: 150px
- **flagcaption**: Flag of South Australia
- **insignia**: South Australian Coat of Arms.svg
- **insigniacaption**: Coat of arms of South Australia, South Australian Coat of Arms
- **image**: Peter Malinauskas (cropped).png
- **imagesize**: 200px
- **incumbent**: Peter Malinauskas
- **incumbentsince**: 21 March 2022
- **style**: The Honourable

Premier

- **reports to**: Parliament of South Australia
Governor of South Australia
- **seat**: Adelaide, South Australia
- **appointer**: Governor of South Australia
- **termlength**: At the Governor's pleasure
- **formation**: 24 October 1856
- **inaugural**: B. T. Finniss, Boyle Finniss
- **salary**: $374,648 (AUD)
- **website**: http://premier.sa.gov.au/