Albert Thompson

Who was Albert Thompson?

Albert Victor Thompson was a member of the Australian House of Representatives and the South Australian House of Assembly.

Born at Yatala near Port Adelaide, South Australia, Thompson was the sixth child of Joseph Thompson and Jane Ann Batey, both of Northumberland, England. Thompson married Millicent Maud Garnaut on 19 January 1909 and initially farmed near Keith in southeast South Australia before a drought in 1914 led to their return to Port Adelaide.

In 1930 Thompson was elected President of the Carters and Drivers Union,. His influence in the union movement led to his preselection as the Australian Labor Party candidate for the safe Labor seat of Port Adelaide at the 1930 South Australian election. Thompson served in state parliament until 1946 as well as serving as president of the South Australian branch of the ALP from 1938 to 1940.

In 1946 Thompson resigned from state parliament to successfully run as the Labor candidate for Hindmarsh in the House of Representatives, moving to the neighbouring federal Division of Port Adelaide in 1949. Thompson retired from politics at the 1963 election.