Crawford Vaughan

Who was Crawford Vaughan?

Crawford Vaughan, was Premier of South Australia between 3 April 1915 and 14 July 1917.

Vaughan unsuccessfully campaigned for a seat in the Australian House of Representatives in 1901, and for the Australian Senate in 1903. He then turned to state politics, and entered the South Australian parliament by winning the seat of Torrens in 1905, representing the United Labor Party. He held this seat until 1915, when he became the member for Sturt. He became Treasurer of South Australia in 1910 in the government of Premier John Verran. Verran and Labor lost government in 1912. When Verran resigned the leadership of the party in 1913, Vaughan was elected to the post.

Vaughan and Labor defeated the Liberal Union government led by Archibald Peake in 1915, with 26 of 46 seats in the House of Assembly. His government improved the education system by restructuring the department's senior bureaucracy, by extending the years of compulsory school attendance and by providing better facilities for the intellectually and physically disabled. The government legislated to allow women to serve in the police force and as justices of the peace, while it also improved workers' access to the arbitration system and diminished the court's punitive powers against trade unions. A wheat pool was created, as were land and housing schemes for war veterans. However, the government also passed a law designed to close Lutheran primary schools.