Archibald Peake
Encyclopedia
Archibald Henry Peake was an Australia
n politician
and the 25th Premier of South Australia
, serving on three separate occasions in the 1910s.
, London in 1862, initially settled in Victoria
, before moving to South Australia
two years later. Peake was educated at state schools under his father, but in later life widened his education by studying in English history and literature. He entered the service of the district council of Narracoorte
, became district clerk in 1878. In 1893 he contested Albert in an election for the House of Assembly
and was beaten by 50 votes, but four years later won the seat by two votes. He resigned his position as district clerk when he entered politics, and afterward was in business at Mount Barker
as a member of the firm of auctioneers, Monks and Peake.
Peake was elected to Parliament as the Member for Albert representing Narracorte. After his election, Peake was at first an independent supporting the Liberal Governments of Charles Kingston
and Frederick Holder
. He became disillusioned with the Government of John Jenkins
leading him to become leader of a group of 15 members under the Liberal banner.
Peake's group joined the Labor Government of Thomas Price
in a coalition with Peake holding the positions of Treasurer and Attorney General after they won a six-seat majority. As Treasurer, he delivered three surplus budgets in a row as agricultural conditions improved.
In the 1906 election, Labor came close to a majority in their own right. However, Peake and his party resisted a change to the arrangements and it was only his good relationships with Price that held the coalition together. Peake had formed the Liberal and Democratic Union
which had a network of branches in 1906.
. Peake refused and was able to form a Government which lasted for a year. The Liberal and Democratic Union relied on support from the conservative Australasian National League and the Farmers' and Producers' Political Union with representatives of both parties joining the Government.
Following the Labor victory in the 1910 state election
, the Liberal and Democratic Union merged with the conservative parties to form the Liberal Union
under Peake's leadership. It was affiliated with the Commonwealth Liberal Party at the Federal level. Peake was elected as Premier at the 1912 election
as Verran's Government had been unable to deal with a number of significant industrial disputes.
Peake's Government created the Industrial Arbitration Court which established a minimum wage for state awards but limited the right to strike. During his premiership, he reached agreement with the Federal
, New South Wales
and Victorian
Governments over the Murray River
leading to the River Murray Commission which is now the Murray-Darling Basin Commission
. Peake was a teetotaller Presbyterian who held a plebiscite establishing six o'clock closing for hotels in 1915 which became the law in South Australia for the next fifty years.
Peake lost to the Labor Party under Crawford Vaughan
at the 1915 election
and lost his seat. However, he was elected as Member for Alexandra
and became Leader of the Opposition. Vaughan lost his majority after the Labor Party split over conscription
. Peake became Premier of a coalition government of Liberals and Nationalist Party of Australia
members.
This government reformed apprenticeship
arrangements and reformed divorce laws. It won a solid majority at the 1918 election
and established soldier settlements. However, the Nationalists crossed the floor to amend the Industrial Code Bill in concert with the ALP leading Peake to demand their full support. They refused leading Peake to form a totally Liberal Government. However, he died of a cerebral haemorrhage hours after the new Ministry was sworn in.
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Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n politician
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and the 25th Premier of South Australia
Premiers of South Australia
Before the 1890s when there was no formal party system in South Australia, MPs tended to have historical liberal or conservative beliefs. The liberals dominated government from 1893 to 1905 with Labor support, with the conservatives mostly in opposition. Labor took government with the support of...
, serving on three separate occasions in the 1910s.
Early life and career
Peake's family migrated from ChelseaChelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
, London in 1862, initially settled in Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, before moving to South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
two years later. Peake was educated at state schools under his father, but in later life widened his education by studying in English history and literature. He entered the service of the district council of Narracoorte
Naracoorte, South Australia
Naracoorte is a town in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia, approximately 336 kilometres south east of Adelaide and 100 kilometres north of Mount Gambier on the Riddoch Highway .-History:...
, became district clerk in 1878. In 1893 he contested Albert in an election for the House of Assembly
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 :...
and was beaten by 50 votes, but four years later won the seat by two votes. He resigned his position as district clerk when he entered politics, and afterward was in business at Mount Barker
Mount Barker, South Australia
Mount Barker is an expanding city, home to 10 258 residents that is 33 kilometres up the South Eastern Freeway, east of Adelaide, in South Australia. It is the seat of the District Council of Mount Barker, is the largest town in the Adelaide Hills, and is one of the fastest growing areas in the...
as a member of the firm of auctioneers, Monks and Peake.
Parliamentarian
Peake was elected to Parliament as the Member for Albert representing Narracorte. After his election, Peake was at first an independent supporting the Liberal Governments of Charles Kingston
Charles Kingston
Charles Cameron Kingston, Australian politician, was an early liberal Premier of South Australia serving from 1893 to 1899 with the support of Labor led by John McPherson from 1893 and Lee Batchelor from 1897 in the House of Assembly, winning the 1893, 1896, and 1899 state elections against the...
and Frederick Holder
Frederick Holder
Sir Frederick William Holder KCMG was the 19th Premier of South Australia and a prominent member of the inaugural Australian Commonwealth Parliament, including the first Speaker of the House of Representatives.-Life:...
. He became disillusioned with the Government of John Jenkins
John Jenkins (Australian politician)
John Greeley Jenkins was an American-Australian politician and Premier of South Australia.Jenkins was the fourth son of Evan Jenkins and Mary Davis of South Wales, was born in Pennsylvania. He was educated at the Wyoming Seminary, Pa., and after working on his father's farm, became in 1872 a...
leading him to become leader of a group of 15 members under the Liberal banner.
Peake's group joined the Labor Government of Thomas Price
Thomas Price
Thomas Price was a stonecutter, teacher, lay preacher, businessman, stonemason, clerk-of-works, union secretary, union president and politician...
in a coalition with Peake holding the positions of Treasurer and Attorney General after they won a six-seat majority. As Treasurer, he delivered three surplus budgets in a row as agricultural conditions improved.
In the 1906 election, Labor came close to a majority in their own right. However, Peake and his party resisted a change to the arrangements and it was only his good relationships with Price that held the coalition together. Peake had formed the Liberal and Democratic Union
Liberal and Democratic Union
The Liberal and Democratic Union was a political party formed by early South Australian liberals, as opposed to the conservatives. It was formed in 1906 when liberal party structures were becoming more solid. Its leader, Archibald Peake, stressed that the LDU represented 'something not so sharply...
which had a network of branches in 1906.
Premier
After Price's death, the Labor Party demanded the Premier position for its new leader John VerranJohn Verran
John Verran was the 26th Premier of South Australia, serving from 1910 to 1912. The 1910 election saw the South Australian division of the Australian Labor Party form a majority government, the first time a party had done so in South Australia...
. Peake refused and was able to form a Government which lasted for a year. The Liberal and Democratic Union relied on support from the conservative Australasian National League and the Farmers' and Producers' Political Union with representatives of both parties joining the Government.
Following the Labor victory in the 1910 state election
South Australian state election, 1910
State elections were held in Australia on 2 April 1910. All 42 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Democratic Union government led by Premier of South Australia Archibald Peake was defeated by the Australian Labor Party led by John Verran....
, the Liberal and Democratic Union merged with the conservative parties to form the Liberal Union
Liberal Union (Australia)
The Liberal Union was a political party resulting from a merger between the Liberal and Democratic Union and the conservatives in South Australia. It lasted from 1910 to 1922 when it became the Liberal Federation....
under Peake's leadership. It was affiliated with the Commonwealth Liberal Party at the Federal level. Peake was elected as Premier at the 1912 election
South Australian state election, 1912
State elections were held in Australia on 10 February 1912. All 40 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party government led by Premier of South Australia John Verran was defeated by the opposition Liberal Union led by Leader of the...
as Verran's Government had been unable to deal with a number of significant industrial disputes.
Peake's Government created the Industrial Arbitration Court which established a minimum wage for state awards but limited the right to strike. During his premiership, he reached agreement with the Federal
Government of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...
, New South Wales
Government of New South Wales
The form of the Government of New South Wales is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1856, although it has been amended many times since then...
and Victorian
Government of Victoria
The Government of Victoria, under the Constitution of Australia, ceded certain legislative and judicial powers to the Commonwealth, but retained complete independence in all other areas...
Governments over the Murray River
Murray River
The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria as it...
leading to the River Murray Commission which is now the Murray-Darling Basin Commission
Murray-Darling Basin Commission
The Murray-Darling Basin Authority is the principal government agency in charge of managing the Murray-Darling Basin in an integrated and sustainable manner. The Authority is the statutory agency that manages, in conjunction with the Basin states, the Murray–Darling Basin’s water resources in the...
. Peake was a teetotaller Presbyterian who held a plebiscite establishing six o'clock closing for hotels in 1915 which became the law in South Australia for the next fifty years.
Peake lost to the Labor Party under Crawford Vaughan
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...
at the 1915 election
South Australian state election, 1915
State elections were held in Australia on 27 March 1915. All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Union government led by Premier of South Australia Archibald Peake was defeated by the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the...
and lost his seat. However, he was elected as Member for Alexandra
Electoral district of Alexandra
Alexandra was an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian state of South Australia from 1902 to 1992. The district included the Fleurieu Peninsula, to the south of Adelaide.Alexandra was renamed Finniss at the 1993 state election....
and became Leader of the Opposition. Vaughan lost his majority after the Labor Party split over conscription
Conscription in Australia
Conscription in Australia, or mandatory military service also known as National Service, has a controversial history dating back to the first years of nationhood...
. Peake became Premier of a coalition government of Liberals and Nationalist Party of Australia
Nationalist Party of Australia
The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...
members.
This government reformed apprenticeship
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
arrangements and reformed divorce laws. It won a solid majority at the 1918 election
South Australian state election, 1918
State elections were held in Australia on 6 April 1918. All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Union government led by Premier of South Australia Archibald Peake defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the...
and established soldier settlements. However, the Nationalists crossed the floor to amend the Industrial Code Bill in concert with the ALP leading Peake to demand their full support. They refused leading Peake to form a totally Liberal Government. However, he died of a cerebral haemorrhage hours after the new Ministry was sworn in.
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