Don Dunstan

Donald Allan "Don" Dunstan AC, QC (21 September 1926 – 6 February 1999) was a South Australian politician. He was the leader of the state's Labor Party from 1967, and was Premier of South Australia between June 1967 and April 1968, and again between June 1970 and February 1979.
Early life
Dunstan was born in Fiji to a rich Australian couple. He moved to Adelaide when he was a teenager. He moved to go to school on a scholarship. He later studied law and arts at the University of Adelaide. 
Career
He entered politics in 1953. He got a seat in the South Australian parliament at the age of 26. He became well known for his campaign against the death penalty during the 1950s, and his status in the Labor Party rose quickly. As a member of the opposition, he was able to get the parliament to pass changes to Aboriginal civil rights. He was also an important figure in his party's abandoning the White Australia Policy.

Dunstan was a socially progressive premier. His government recognised native title over Aboriginal lands, decriminalised (made legal) homosexuality, and abolished the death penalty. Appointed during his term were the first female judge, the first non-British governor, and later, the first indigenous governor. Dunstan also relaxed censorship and drinking laws in the state, created a ministry for the environment, and made laws against discrimination. His nine years in office during the 1970s are remembered as the Dunstan Decade. However, there were also problems: the state's economic growth began to slow down, and led to major infrastructure plans being abandoned. Unemployment in South Australia began to rise, as well as rumours of corruption. Dunstan became strained after the death of his wife, and he suddenly resigned from the premiership in 1979 after collapsing from illness. He lived for another two decades, and remained very outspoken in public about social policies.

References

 Other websites 
Past Premier profile: SA Parliament 
Don Dunstan Foundation

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Category:1926 births
Category:1999 deaths
Category:Premiers of South Australia
Category:Fijian people
Category:Politicians from Adelaide
Category:Cancer deaths in Australia
Category:Australian Labor Party politicians
Category:University of Adelaide alumni