Edward Craigie

Who was Edward Craigie?

Edward John Craigie was a Single Tax League member for the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Flinders from 1930 to 1941.

Born and raised in Moonta, South Australia, the son of Scottish parents, Craigie left school aged 11, initially working as an office boy before stints as a baker and butcher in Adelaide. From an early age, Craigie believed there needed to be a drastic overhaul of society to benefit the less privileged. Initially attracted to socialism, Craigie was converted to the ideas of Henry George who argued that all taxes should be abolished except for a single tax on unimproved land values

Returning to Moonta in 1904, Craigie joined the United Labor Party with the aim of incorporating single tax theory as party policy and worked as a political journalist for local papers. Craigie was elected to Moonta Council in 1905 and successfully introduced a single tax system throughout the council area, believing this to be the first step towards the nationwide institution of a tax on unimproved land values. Considering his work done in Moonta, Craigie resigned from the council and the Labor Party in 1911 to serve as Secretary of the Henry George League of South Australia and form the Single Tax League in order to contest elections and gain support for single tax theory.