1. James Desmond Corcoran was an Australian politician who served as the 37th premier of South Australia between February and September 1979, following the resignation of Don Dunstan.
46 Facts About Des Corcoran
1. 2.
Des Corcoran was a key figure in the modernisation of the state branch of the Labor Party, which had been in opposition since 1933.
3.
Two months later, Labor lost government and Des Corcoran nearly lost his seat, but retained his role as Dunstan's deputy.
4.
At the 1970 state election, Labor returned to the government benches, and Des Corcoran regained his position as deputy premier, and took up the marine and works ministries.
5.
Dunstan and Des Corcoran had very different styles, but they formed a strong and respectful partnership.
6.
Des Corcoran died in 2004 following a long illness, and was granted a state funeral.
7.
James Desmond "Des" Corcoran was born on 8 November 1928 in Millicent, South Australia.
8.
Des Corcoran was the youngest of nine children of Jim Corcoran and his wife Teresa Catherine Sutton.
9.
Des Corcoran attended Tantanoola Primary School, but left school at 13 and worked in a bakery.
10.
Des Corcoran joined the Australian Labor Party in 1941.
11.
Des Corcoran's mother died when he was 16, and around that time he and his older brother Robert embarked on a working holiday around Australia.
12.
Des Corcoran was unsuccessful in his bid to be re-elected in the 1947, and 1950 state elections.
13.
Des Corcoran was allocated the service number 23934, and allotted as an infantry soldier and posted to the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment.
14.
The unwounded soldier ran back to friendly lines for assistance, and Des Corcoran came forward under enemy mortar fire, dragged and carried the wounded men in, and then brought in the body of the dead soldier.
15.
Des Corcoran returned to Australia in March 1954, and after several weeks of leave, was posted to New Guinea.
16.
At the 1956 state election, Jim Des Corcoran successfully contested the new electoral district of Millicent which had been excised from the district of Victoria as part of a redistribution, and successfully defended it in the 1959 state election.
17.
On 31 August 1957, Des Corcoran married Carmel Campbell at the school chapel at Rostrevor College.
18.
Des Corcoran was promoted to warrant officer class two and served for twenty months as the company sergeant major of the headquarters of the 28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade Group in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency, for which he was mentioned in despatches for a second time, this time for "outstanding service".
19.
Des Corcoran left the Army in 1961 and in the 3 March 1962 state election was elected to the House of Assembly for the ALP, succeeding his father as the member for Millicent.
20.
Des Corcoran received 53.1 per cent of the two-party-preferred votes, defeating Ren DeGaris of the Liberal and Country League.
21.
Des Corcoran's speech emphasised policy areas that would remain central to his political interests throughout his career.
22.
Des Corcoran was a strong proponent of the paper industry and water controls for the irrigation scheme in the southeast.
23.
Labor had been in opposition in the state since 1933, and Des Corcoran, along with his colleagues Don Dunstan, Mick Young and Clyde Cameron, was a key player in the modernisation of the state Labor Party as a political force.
24.
Des Corcoran served on the parliamentary committee on land settlement from March to November 1965.
25.
Des Corcoran was reluctant to do so, and made moves to have the rules modified to allow him to serve on.
26.
Des Corcoran was a loyal deputy, and the working relationship between the two was "smooth and cooperative", employing an internal consensus style within the party that had been carefully developed by Cameron and the Labor senator Jim Toohey since the late 1940s, and contrasted with the conflict-riven nature of the party in other states, largely due to the influence of the DLP.
27.
Des Corcoran was nearly defeated in his own seat, winning by a single vote over his LCL rival Martin Cameron.
28.
In Labor's victory at the 30 May 1970 state election, Des Corcoran retained the seat of Millicent with 54 per cent of the TPP.
29.
Des Corcoran resumed his role as deputy premier, and held the works and marine portfolios.
30.
Des Corcoran handled the interaction between the Dunstan ministry and the Labor caucus, using his strong personality to settle disputes.
31.
Behind the scenes, Dunstan sometimes found Des Corcoran's plain-speaking style useful to control others within the ALP.
32.
Des Corcoran held Millicent with 56.5 per cent of the TPP in the 10 March 1973 state election, defeating the LCL's Murray Vandepeer.
33.
Des Corcoran won the seat with 52.4 per cent of the TPP, and Vandepeer received 59.9 per cent of the TPP in Millicent.
34.
When this margin was erased in another redistribution, Des Corcoran transferred to the newly created and nearby northeastern Adelaide district of Hartley, receiving 58.8 per cent of the TPP at the 17 September 1977 state election, with Coles falling to Jennifer Adamson of the Liberal Party.
35.
Des Corcoran gained the environment portfolio in the new government, while retaining his other portfolios.
36.
Des Corcoran served as state treasurer along with adding the ethnic affairs portfolio to immigration.
37.
Des Corcoran held Hartley with 50.7 per cent of the TPP.
38.
Des Corcoran was succeeded by the much younger John Bannon, whose urbane style and academic background meant he was much closer in style to Dunstan than to Corcoran.
39.
At the 6 November 1982 state election, Bannon easily defeated Tonkin and led Labor back into government, but Des Corcoran did not contest his seat of Hartley, which was retained for Labor by Terry Groom.
40.
Dunstan was angry with Des Corcoran, feeling that he had wasted a full year of the term they had won in 1977, and had not continued to pursue Aboriginal land rights and industrial democracy.
41.
Des Corcoran was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 1982 Australia Day Honours, "in recognition of service to politics and government".
42.
Between 1983 and 1987 Des Corcoran served on the Council of the Australian War Memorial.
43.
Des Corcoran died in Adelaide on 3 January 2004, aged 75, after a long illness.
44.
Rann went on to say that Des Corcoran would be "sorely missed" as someone who was larger than life and respected across the political spectrum in South Australia.
45.
Des Corcoran noted that Corcoran would be remembered "for his gregarious personality and how he so often used humour to heal differences".
46.
Don Hopgood, who served as education minister alongside Des Corcoran, observed that he brought strength to the Dunstan administration.