William David Ponder (18 March 1855 – 21 May 1933) was an Australian politician who represented 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 ...

multi-member An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections ma ...

seats of

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 ...

from 1905 to 1915 and

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. History Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...

from 1915 to 1921. He represented the

United Labor Party The South Australian Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch) and commonly referred to simply as South Australian Labor, is the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party, originally formed ...

until the 1917 Labor split, when he joined the National Party. Ponder was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, but his family moved to

in the same year he was born; his sister was prominent journalist and author Winifred Ponder. His family initially lived in Adelaide and

Gawler Gawler is the oldest country town on the Australian mainland in the state of South Australia. It was named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is about north of the ...

, but moved to

Kapunda Kapunda is a town on the Light River and near the Barossa Valley in South Australia. It was established after a discovery in 1842 of significant copper deposits. The population was 2,917 at the 2016 Australian census. The southern entrance t ...

in 1860, where he was educated and undertook a printing apprenticeship for the ''

Kapunda Herald ''The Kapunda Herald'' was a newspaper published in Kapunda, South Australia from 29 October 1864 to 25 January 1951. From 1864 to 1878 the masthead was subtitled ''"and Northern Intelligencer"''. It was published weekly, except for the period Feb ...

''. He worked as a compositor for the Government Printing Office and the '' South Australian Register''. He subsequently moved to '' The Advertiser'', where he worked as city collector and wrote a regular cricket column. He was subsequently appointed by Sir

Langdon Bonython Langdon may refer to: Places Australia * Langdon, Queensland, a neighbourhood in the Mackay Region Canada * Langdon, Alberta, a hamlet United Kingdom * Langdon, Cornwall, a hamlet * Langdon, Kent, a civil parish * Langdon, Pembrokesh ...

as a sub-editor for ''

The Express and Telegraph ''The Telegraph'' was a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, founded in 1862, and merged with '' The Express'' to become ''The Express and Telegraph'', published from 1867 to 1922. History ''The Adelaide Telegraph'' The Adelaide ''Teleg ...

''. Later, he was an advertising agent from 1897 to 1918, a director of the Co-Operative Building Society for thirty years, and governor of the

Adelaide Botanic Gardens The Adelaide Botanic Garden is a public garden at the north-east corner of the Adelaide city centre, in the Adelaide Park Lands. It encompasses a fenced garden on North Terrace (between Lot Fourteen, the site of the old Royal Adelaide Hospital ...

. He was also a significant Freemason, occupying a number of positions in that movement. He was an active member of the

South Australian Literary Societies' Union South Australian Literary Societies' Union (1883–1926) was a peak or advocacy organisation of literary societies in South Australia. It organised competitions between the member societies and established a "Union Parliament" to debate issues o ...

; his claim to have first mooted that body's Union Parliament, was refuted by George Hussey. Ponder was first elected to office in 1898 with his election as a

City of Adelaide The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia and is legally defined as the capital city of South ...

councillor for Young Ward, having been defeated in an attempt for that seat the previous year and in a bid for the Legislative Council in 1901. He was a councillor for six years, but ran for alderman and lost in 1904. Ponder was elected to the House of Assembly as a Labor member at the 1905 state election, and in 1915 was reported to have only ever missed one sitting. He was a state MP for sixteen years, being re-elected numerous times. He was expelled from the Labor Party in the 1917 Labor split over his support for conscription, joined the splinter National Party, and was re-elected in 1918 under that banner. However, following the collapse of the National Party's coalition with the conservative Liberal Union, he was defeated in 1921 for the short-lived Progressive Country Party alliance. He died at "Wilcot", his home in Gilberton, in 1933. He had been in good health until a short time before his death, but suffered two heart attacks in short succession. He was buried at

West Terrace Cemetery The West Terrace Cemetery is South Australia's oldest cemetery, first appearing on Colonel William Light's 1837 plan of Adelaide. The site is located in Park 23 of the Adelaide Park Lands just south-west of the Adelaide city centre, between ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponder, William David 1855 births 1933 deaths Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Burials at West Terrace Cemetery