52 Facts About Ted Theodore

Edward Granville Theodore was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Queensland from 1919 to 1925, as leader of the state Labor Party.

Ted Theodore later entered federal politics, serving as Treasurer in the Scullin Labor government.

Ted Theodore was born in Adelaide, the son of a Romanian immigrant.

Ted Theodore left school at the age of 12, and spent the next decade working his way around the country.

Ted Theodore arrived in Queensland in 1906, and soon became involved in the labour movement.

Ted Theodore was elected state president of the Australian Workers' Union in 1913.

Ted Theodore became Treasurer of Queensland following Labor's victory at the 1915 state election.

Ted Theodore's government pursued various interventionist economic policies, establishing a number of state-run enterprises and introducing new competition and labour market regulations.

Ted Theodore was popular among the general public, and won two state elections before resigning in 1925 to enter federal politics.

Ted Theodore was defeated at his first attempt, but two years later won a by-election for the Sydney seat of Dalley.

In 1929, Theodore was elected deputy leader to James Scullin.

Ted Theodore became Treasurer and de facto Deputy Prime Minister after the 1929 election, but resigned after less than a year amid accusations of corruption.

Ted Theodore returned as a Treasurer in early 1931, and served until the government's landslide defeat at the 1931 election, where he lost his own seat.

Ted Theodore had little success in combating the Great Depression, and disputes over economic policy led to a party split and several defections to Lang Labor and the United Australia Party.

Ted Theodore was only 47 when he left politics, and went on to have a successful business career as a partner of Frank Packer.

Ted Theodore was born on 29 December 1884 in Port Adelaide, South Australia, the second of six children born to Annie and Basil Stephen Ted Theodore.

Ted Theodore's parents had met in 1882, on the passage from England to Australia.

Ted Theodore's parents had intended that he follow his father into the Romanian Orthodox priesthood, but he quit divinity school to join the British Merchant Navy.

Ted Theodore's mother was born in Manchester, England, and descended from Irish immigrants.

Ted Theodore's father died when she was an infant, and she was sent to work in the Lancashire cotton mills.

Ted Theodore then joined a guano mining crew on the Houtman Abrolhos, where he acquired his lifelong love of fishing.

Ted Theodore went back to Adelaide for Christmas 1902, and then joined his father on an unsuccessful prospecting expedition to Leigh Creek and Bundaleer, where they had hoped to find copper.

Later in 1903, Ted Theodore got his first experience in industrial relations, helping negotiate a wage increase for miners at Arltunga.

Ted Theodore then decided to try his luck at Broken Hill, New South Wales.

Ted Theodore became Queensland state president of the AWU in 1913.

In 1919, Ryan resigned and Theodore succeeded him as Premier of Queensland, then Australia's only Labor state government, following the great split in the Labor Party over the issue of conscription in World War I He was a popular and successful Premier, and soon began to be talked about as a possible federal Labor leader.

Orderly marketing and controls on price fluctuations were carried out to develop agriculture, while the Ted Theodore Government involved itself in the marketing of Queensland fruit produce.

In 1925, Theodore resigned as Premier and stood for the Queensland seat of Herbert in the federal election, but was unexpectedly defeated by Lewis Nott by 268 votes.

Ted Theodore's status as an outsider in Sydney Labor politics was a permanent problem for him, but he soon made his mark in federal Parliament.

In October 1929 Scullin defeated the conservative government of Stanley Bruce and became Prime Minister, while Theodore became Treasurer and de facto Deputy Prime Minister.

Lyons and Fenton felt that Scullin should have waited until Theodore had been formally cleared, and resigned from cabinet in protest.

Ted Theodore has been described as a visionary proto-Keynesian for this proposal, although it cannot be known what effect his measures would have had on the Depression had the bill been passed.

Ted Theodore had no base of support in Sydney and he lost his seat to Lang candidate Sol Rosevear.

Ted Theodore was the only sitting treasurer to lose his seat until Josh Frydenberg in 2022.

In 1932, Theodore began a business relationship with 25-year-old Frank Packer, the son of newspaper industry veteran R C Packer.

In 1933, Ted Theodore learned that gold had been found in Fiji on the island of Viti Levu.

Ted Theodore formed a syndicate with Frank Packer, John Wren, and Wren's associate Patrick Cody, with each of them holding a quarter stake.

Ted Theodore took a keen interest in the welfare of the miners.

Ted Theodore advised the government on the creation of medical benefits and workers' compensation schemes, while the company town had three schools, a golf course, a bowling green, tennis courts, a dispensary and a maternity hospital.

Ted Theodore took up full-time residence in Fiji, returning to Australia only for business trips and trout-fishing.

Ted Theodore had a residence 10 miles outside of Suva, and while at the mines lived in a bure.

Ted Theodore eventually agreed in February 1942 to oversee the creation of the Allied Works Council, with himself as Director-General of Allied Works.

Ted Theodore subsequently established the Civil Constructional Corps to undertake construction work requested by the military.

Ted Theodore faced criticism and political interference from his former opponents in the ALP, particularly Jack Lang and Eddie Ward, the Minister for Labour and National Service.

Ward then attacked Ted Theodore for calling up elderly and deceased men.

In September 1942, Ted Theodore tendered his resignation to Curtin, citing Ward's lack of cooperation.

Ted Theodore rescinded his resignation and eventually left the position in October 1944.

Ted Theodore was a delegate to the Imperial Press Conference in London in 1946.

Ted Theodore resumed his work in Fiji and considered moving there permanently.

Ted Theodore's health declined rapidly and he began handing business responsibilities to his children; he resigned from ACP in January 1949.

Ted Theodore's funeral was held at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, with the mass celebrated by his friend James Duhig, Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane.

Ted Theodore worked as a photographic tinter and was the daughter of a cabinetmaker from Toowoomba.