Albert Augustine Edwards (6 November 1888 – 24 August 1963) was an Australian publican and politician.

Early life and education

Edwards was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

on 6 November 1888. His father was "widely believed" to be

Charles Kingston Charles Cameron Kingston (22 October 1850 – 11 May 1908) was an Australian politician. From 1893 to 1899 he was a radical liberal Premier of South Australia, occupying this office with the support of Labor, which in the House of Assembly ...

, a member of parliament and future premier. He attended St Joseph's School in Russell Street, in the south-western corner of

Adelaide city centre Adelaide city centre (Kaurna: Tarndanya) is the inner city locality of Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Ad ...

Businessman

Before entering politics he held various jobs as a stall keeper, marine store dealer and hotel keeper, eventually holding licences for the Brunswick Hotel, the Newmarket Hotel on North Terrace and the Hotel Victor at Victor Harbor. He took over the British Lion Hotel in Hindmarsh.

Politics

In 1917 he was elected to 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 South Australian Legislative Council, Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament House in the st ...

as the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

member for

. He was also a prominent elected member of the Adelaide City Council. In both State and Municipal politics he had a frequent antagonist in Mrs. A. K. Goode. Goode and Edwards were candidates for the seat of Adelaide in the House of Assembly elections in 1924. Edwards and fellow Labor Party candidates Bill Denny and John Gunn were successful; Goode came a distant fourth. Goode and Edwards were candidates for the Grey ward for the Adelaide City Council in 1924. Edwards topped the poll but had, as Mrs. Goode pointed out, contravened the Act by driving voters to the polling place. She refrained from formally charging him, as this could have given her the seat by default without a fair majority of votes. Both had interests in prison reform, and both served on the State Children's Council, but frequently and publicly disagreed on aims and objects. In 1925 Goode criticised as excessively lenient the jailing for one year of one Kelly, who was convicted of indecent assault. Edwards defended the judge, pointing out that the girl was a consenting party and above the age of consent. In 1927 Edwards criticised her for disallowing a proposed increase in allowances for "State girls" (wards of the State who were "boarded out" with generally well-to-do families or widows as companions and maids-of-all-work) from 2/ to 5/ (shillings) per week. Edwards served as a Member of the House of Assembly until 1931, when his seat was vacated by absence without leave. He had been convicted of "an unnatural offence" with John Gaunt "Jack" Mundy, 16, a "sexually perverted boy", and sentenced to five years' jail. His appeals failed but he was released in 1933. For his period of incarceration, he had his brother Arthur and sister-in-law Millicent Edwards manage his hotel, the Castle Inn at the corner of Hindley and Morphett Streets. In 1937 Millicent brought an action against Albert, charging him with assault and indecent language which he had used against her when she demanded money in consideration of the work she had put into his hotel. Her suit was unsuccessful and she was ordered to pay costs. In

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * Januar ...

he stood unsuccessfully as an Independent for the Federal seat of Adelaide. In 1948 he won a seat on the Adelaide City Council for the seat of Grey. A charge of gross indecency brought against Edwards in 1942 was dropped when the two principal witnesses refused to testify.

Philanthropy

In 1961 he endowed a men's refuge in

Whitmore Square Whitmore Square, also known as Iparrityi (formerly Ivaritji), is one of five public squares in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia. Occupying 2.4ha (24,000 m2), it is located at the junction of Sturt and Morphett Streets in the south-wes ...

; in 1963 he purchased the adjoining property as a rehabilitation centre for prisoners, named the Frank Lundie Hostel for his friend and colleague the secretary of the South Australian branch of the

Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the 1880s and currently has approximately 80,000 members. It has exer ...

. He contributed generously to a meal centre run by the Daughters of Charity in

Hutt Street Hutt Street is the easternmost of the five major north–south roads running through the City of Adelaide. It runs from Pirie Street to South Terrace, from where it continues south as Hutt Road. Flanked by leafy side streets with many late 19t ...

Football

"Bert" Edwards was a longtime follower of the

West Adelaide Football Club West Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Commonly known as The Bloods and Westies, the club's home base is Richmond Oval (currently known as Hisense Stadium und ...

, a member of the

South Australian Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

. In 1921 West Adelaide nominated him as their delegate to the League's governing body, but was rejected on the grounds that he had once used intemperate language at a junior meeting. Edwards, who had no knowledge of the offence, refused to apologise, and a standoff ensued, which became so entrenched that at one stage consideration was given to disbanding the League and re-forming it without West Adelaide.

Western Australia

Edwards was a frequent, prominent and newsworthy visitor to Western Australia and in 1925 was appointed a Justice of the Peace for that State. When he successfully stood for the Grey ward in the Adelaide City Council, his election was touted by the Perth ''Sunday Times'' as attracting the "most interest".

Death

He died in 1963, without any heirs. His considerable assets were left to charities for the homeless and destitute.