13 Facts About Lionel Hill

Lionel Laughton Hill was an Australian politician who served as the thirtieth Premier of South Australia, representing the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party.

Lionel Hill was able to combine his work with a distinguished Australian rules footballing career in the South Australian National Football League.

Lionel Hill made his league debut for West Adelaide Football Club as a seventeen year old and played 52 games until the end of 1902 before joining North Adelaide Football Club in 1903 and then starring for Norwood Football Club from 1904 until 1913.

Lionel Hill won the Best and fairest in his only year at North Adelaide and won three best and fairests while at Norwood in 1904,1908 and 1909.

Lionel Hill represented the State in interstate matches on numerous occasions.

Lionel Hill then gained Australian Labor Party pre-selection for the South Australian House of Assembly electorate of East Torrens, which he duly won at the 1915 election.

In parliament Lionel Hill was considered "a slow thinker and unimpressive orator" but gained statewide recognition for his role as President of the Anti-Conscription Council, an issue so divisive during World War I that it caused the 1916 Labor split.

Lionel Hill returned as Premier and treasurer but faced problems like high unemployment, a formidable state debt, a shrinking economy and a strike prone workforce.

Lionel Hill's cabinet found themselves in the unenviable position of being quite incapable of finding a solution to these problems and led to Hill accepting the contentious Premiers' Plan of 1931 which advocated reductions in spending, public works and wages.

Lionel Hill was only able to remain Premier with the support of the Liberal Federation.

Controversy and Lionel Hill remained on close terms as complaints about his performance as Agent-General led to Lionel Hill's resignation from that position in August 1934 and his return to South Australia, where he joined the LCL and sought preselection.

Lionel Hill returned to South Australia in 1958 and found the lure of politics too great, successfully standing for the Town of Kensington and Norwood council.

Ross McMullin, in his history of the Labor Party, The Light on the Lionel Hill, describes him as one of the worst Labor leaders federally or in any state.