Albert William Robinson (20 May 1877 – 25 May 1943) was an Australian

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and long serving member of the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was creat ...

. Born in

Lyndoch, South Australia Lyndoch is a town in Barossa Valley, located on the Barossa Valley Highway between Gawler, South Australia, Gawler and Tanunda, South Australia, Tanunda, 58 km northeast of Adelaide. The town has an elevation of 175m and an average Precipi ...

to George Septimus Robinson, publican and grazier, and his wife Lucy, Robinson was educated in

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

and

Roseworthy Agricultural College Roseworthy Agricultural College was an agricultural college in Australia. It was north of Adelaide and west of Roseworthy town. It was the first agricultural college in Australia, established in 1883. It is now part of the University of Adela ...

, where he studied

viticulture Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

, before commencing work as a pastoralist on his father's property "Werocata" near

Balaklava Balaklava ( uk, Балаклáва, russian: Балаклáва, crh, Balıqlava, ) is a settlement on the Crimean Peninsula and part of the city of Sevastopol. It is an administrative center of Balaklava Raion that used to be part of the Crim ...

. Robinson married Edith Laine in 1904; the marriage produced three daughters and three sons. His stature in the area led to his election as President of the Balaklava-Dalkey Agricultural Society, Chairman of the Balaklava Racing Club and vice-president of the

Farmers and Producers Political Union The Farmers and Producers Political Union (FPPU) was an independent conservative agrarian political party founded in South Australia in reaction to Labor, keen to fend off a perceived threat to the FPPU's interests against a rising labour moveme ...

. Robinson used this local prominence to good effect by gaining Liberal Union pre-selection for the South Australian House of Assembly

Electoral district of Wooroora Wooroora was an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian colony (state from 1901) of South Australia. The electorate was created by the Electoral Districts Act 1872 of the South Australian parliament but it was not until t ...

at the 1915 election. During his time in parliament, Robinson chaired the influential Government Railways Standing Committee and through this influence in combination with the wealth he had gained from farming, Robinson was considered a possible future

Premier of South Australia The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier is ...

. He surprisingly lost his seat as a

Liberal Federation The Liberal Federation was a South Australian political party from 16 October 1923 to 1932. It came into existence as a merger between the rival Liberal Union and National Party, to oppose Labor. Encouraged by the overwhelming success of the E ...

candidate at the 1924 election, when the Labor Party swept to power. Robinson remained involved in Liberal politics and was appointed by the South Australian parliament in April 1928 to the senate position vacated by Sir

Henry Barwell Sir Henry Newman Barwell KCMG (26 February 187730 September 1959) was the 28th premier of South Australia. Early life Born in Adelaide, South Australia, Barwell was educated at St Peter's College and Adelaide University, graduating in law. Ad ...

upon the latter's resignation to become

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

n Agent-General in London. Robinson sat with the

Nationalist Party of Australia The Nationalist Party, also known as the National Party, was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the latter formed by Prime Mini ...

(the federal equivalent of the South Australian-based Liberal Federation) in the Senate for eight months before his defeat at the 1928 federal election. He was a strong supporter of regional development (he had been heavily involved in the development of

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island, also known as Karta Pintingga (literally 'Island of the Dead' in the language of the Kaurna people), is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest ...

in the late 1930s), an increase in the birth rate and thrift. Angry with his perceived poor treatment by the Liberal Federation, Robinson resigned from the party and again ran for Wooroora but as an independent candidate at a by-election in 1934. Although he could not find a scrutineer in some towns and had no one attend a campaign meeting in another town, Robinson surprisingly won the by-election and, following an electoral redistribution, was comfortably elected as the member for the state seat of Gouger at the 1938 election. He was one of 14 of 39 lower house MPs at the 1938 election to be elected as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, which as a grouping won 40 percent of the primary vote, more than either of the major parties.

Tom Stott Tom Cleave Stott CBE (6 June 1899 – 21 October 1976) spent 37 years as an independent member of the South Australian House of Assembly, from 1933 to 1970. He served as Speaker of the House from 1962 to 1965 for the Tom Playford LCL governme ...

was the de facto leader of the independent caucus within parliament. Following re-election at the 1941 election, Robinson died in office in 1943, survived by his widow, three daughters and one son. A son, George Albert, committed suicide in 1937 after shooting two of his infant children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Albert 1877 births 1943 deaths Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate for South Australia Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Independent members of the Parliament of South Australia 20th-century Australian politicians