Mick O'Halloran
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Michael Raphael O'Halloran (12 April 1893 – 22 September 1960) was an Australian politician, representing the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party. He served as
Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
in the
Parliament of South Australia The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the 47-seat House of Assembly ( lower house) and the 22-seat Legislative Council (upper house). General elections are ...
and also in the
Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...
.


Early life

Born in Yanyarrie in
outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...
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 ...
, the
Irish Catholic Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the British ...
O'Halloran was educated at public schools before leaving to work on his parents' farm aged 13.


Politics

O'Halloran joined the ALP at 15 and was first 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 Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was creat ...
Electoral district of Burra Burra Burra Burra was an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian state of South Australia from 1902 to 1938. After a boundary redistribution in 1902, the Electoral district of Burra Burra was an electoral district of the Ho ...
at the 1918 election. He lost the seat at the 1921 election, but regained it at the 1924 election. He also made an astute move in 1924 by marrying Mary Frances Rowe on 14 August 1924. They had no children, but Mary would act as O'Halloran's electorate officer and advisor for the remainder of his political life. Following his defeat at the 1927 election, O'Halloran worked as an organiser for the Labor Party until his election to the Senate at the 1928 federal election. He served as the Deputy Opposition Leader in the Senate from 1932 until his defeat at the 1934 federal election. After a failed bid to re-enter the Senate at the 1937 federal election, O'Halloran returned to state parliament at the 1938 election, as the member for
Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in eastern Somerset, England. The town is built on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, and centres on the River Frome. The town, about south of Bath, is the largest in the Mendip d ...
, based around the area north of
Port Pirie Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. The city has an expansive history which dates back to 1845. Port Pirie was the first proclaimed regional city in South ...
. An eccentric, O'Halloran forbade any Labor people to enter Frome or campaign there and it became known as his personal fiefdom. Despite this, or possibly because of this, O'Halloran comfortably retained Frome for the rest of his life, and succeeded Robert Richards as Leader of the Opposition on 10 October 1949. In the process he became the first Catholic to lead the South Australian Labor Party. During his eleven years as ALP leader, O'Halloran lost four consecutive elections to the Sir
Thomas Playford IV Sir Thomas Playford (5 July 1896 – 16 June 1981) was an Australian politician from the state of South Australia. He served continuously as Premier of South Australia and leader of the Liberal and Country League (LCL) from 5 November 1938 to 10 ...
led
Liberal and Country League Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and ...
. The ALP won the primary vote in each of these elections, and actually won a majority of the two-party vote at the 1953 election. However, it was locked out of power due to a grossly malapportioned electoral system known as the
Playmander The Playmander was a gerrymandering system, a pro-rural electoral malapportionment in the Australian state of South Australia, which was introduced by the incumbent Liberal and Country League (LCL) government in 1936, and remained in place for 32 ...
. While Adelaide was (with few exceptions) an ALP stronghold, under the Playmander there were two rural electorates for one electorate in Adelaide. The 1953 election illustrated how grossly distorted the Playmander had become by this time. Labor won 53 percent of the two-party vote to the LCL's 47 percent. In a fairer electoral system, this would have been enough to make O'Halloran Premier with a solid majority. However, due to the rural weighting, the LCL won 21 seats to Labor's 14, just barely enough for the LCL to govern alone. Nevertheless, O'Halloran's leadership of the party remained unchallenged during this time. O'Halloran used his influence within the ALP to support
H.V. Evatt Herbert Vere Evatt, (30 April 1894 – 2 November 1965) was an Australian politician and judge. He served as a judge of the High Court of Australia from 1930 to 1940, Attorney-General of Australia, Attorney-General and Minister for Foreign Aff ...
as federal ALP leader. Notwithstanding his own Catholicism, he resisted overtures to join the Catholic-dominated Democratic Labor Party, ensuring that the South Australian branch of the ALP remained free from the splits that occurred in
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...
and
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...
. O'Halloran had a very good working relationship with Playford, which would be unthinkable in today's climate of adversarial politics. Sharp philosophical differences (Playford was a
liberal conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by li ...
, O'Halloran was a trade-union socialist) did not prevent the two men from being friends. They dined together each week to discuss Playford's future plans for South Australia. In response, Playford would regularly, and publicly, call attention to the important role O'Halloran played in the running of the state, while O'Halloran once described Playford as "the best Labor Premier South Australia ever had". For this continued rapport, both men had good reasons. Many of Playford's ideas were socialistic by the standards of the time (such as the development of government-owned electricity boards) and as such were anathema to his conservative colleagues. Since the LCL never held more than 23 seats during Playford's tenure, he often required Labor support to get many of these policies past his own party's right wing. O'Halloran, meanwhile, realised that with the Playmander in place, Labor had little chance of winning office in its own right. Maintaining cordial dealings with Playford was thus the ideal way to ensure that ALP-friendly legislation was passed. This partnership meant that O'Halloran was portrayed in the media as Playford's amenable offsider, even though many thought he was a better speaker than Playford. For most of the 1950s, the public believed the key to South Australia's ongoing economic success was the ''status quo'' of Playford as Premier and O'Halloran as opposition leader. This may not have concerned O'Halloran a great deal, however. Indeed, he appeared to be content to remain as Opposition Leader; he once told an acquaintance, "I wouldn't want to be Premier even if I could be. Tom Playford can do more for my voters than I could if I were in his shoes." Indeed, following the 1959 election, a cartoon highlighting O'Halloran's relief at losing yet another election was published and O'Halloran liked it so much he framed and hung it in his Parliament House Office. While O'Halloran had despaired of ever becoming Premier, Labor did manage to whittle away at the LCL's majority during his tenure as opposition leader. Labor went from a ten-seat deficit when O'Halloran took the leadership to only a four-seat deficit at his death. O'Halloran's ''de facto'' alliance with Playford also proved beneficial to him personally. For example, O'Halloran had eagerly sought to obtain a
papal audience An audience is a formal meeting that takes place between a head of state and another person at the invitation of the head of state. Often, the invitation follows a request for a meeting from the other person. Though sometimes used in republics t ...
for many years, but had been informed that only Heads of State could be given such an audience. When he sadly mentioned this fact to Playford, the latter (who, as a
Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
, had no great interest in meeting the Pope) made arrangements to visit
Pius XII Pius ( , ) Latin for "pious", is a masculine given name. Its feminine form is Pia. It may refer to: People Popes * Pope Pius (disambiguation) * Antipope Pius XIII (1918-2009), who led the breakaway True Catholic Church sect Given name * Pius B ...
while in Europe to attend
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
's coronation. Playford took O'Halloran and Mrs O'Halloran to the Vatican with him. O'Halloran's fondness for whiskey was renowned within state politics. He would regularly over-indulge during parliamentary sessions, and Playford would thoughtfully adjourn the House early so as not to embarrass him. Similarly,
Don Dunstan Donald Allan Dunstan (21 September 1926 – 6 February 1999) was an Australian politician who served as the 35th premier of South Australia from 1967 to 1968, and again from 1970 to 1979. He was a member of the House of Assembly (MHA) for th ...
recalled an incident during the 1953 election campaign when O'Halloran arrived at a public meeting intoxicated, and had to be led away quietly before he fell over. Despite these weaknesses, O'Halloran was universally liked. Labor's most effective orator prior to Dunstan's entry into politics, O'Halloran was a "decent, heavily built but gentle man who ... wore an air of sleepy benevolence", smoked a pipe and spoke with an Irish brogue.


Death

O'Halloran was still Opposition Leader when he died suddenly of a
pulmonary embolism Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an pulmonary artery, artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include dyspnea, shortness of breath, chest pain p ...
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 ...
. Upon hearing the news of O'Halloran's death, the normally imperturbable Playford publicly wept. The Premier served as one of the pallbearers at O'Halloran's state funeral (the first state funeral for an opposition leader in South Australian history). In his eulogy on that occasion, Playford said that he had greatly respected O'Halloran as a man who always told the truth.


References

* * Cockburn, S. (1991) ''Playford: benevolent despot'', Axiom, Adelaide. * Dunstan, D. (1981) ''Felicia: The Political Memoirs of Don Dunstan'', MacMillan, South Melbourne. * Jaensch, D. (ed) (1986) ''The Flinders history of South Australia. Political history'', Wakefield Press, Netley, South Australia. * O'Neil, B., Raftery, J. Round, K. (eds) (1996) ''Playford's South Australia : essays on the history of South Australia, 1933–1968'', Association of Professional Historians, Adelaide.   {{DEFAULTSORT:Ohalloran, Mick 1893 births 1960 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Australian Roman Catholics Deaths from pulmonary embolism Australian people of Irish descent Members of the Australian Senate for South Australia People from South Australia Leaders of the Opposition in South Australia 20th-century Australian politicians