Frank Walsh
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The Honourable Frank Walsh |
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| 34th Premier of South Australia Elections: 1962, 1965 |
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In office 6 March 1965 – 1 June 1967 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Governor | Sir Edric Bastyan |
| Preceded by | Sir Thomas Playford IV |
| Succeeded by | Don Dunstan |
| 25th Leader of the Opposition (SA) | |
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In office 22 September 1960 – 6 March 1965 |
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| Preceded by | Mick O'Halloran |
| Succeeded by | Sir Thomas Playford IV |
| 13th Australian Labor Party (SA) leader | |
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In office 1960–1967 |
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| Preceded by | Mick O'Halloran |
| Succeeded by | Don Dunstan |
| Treasurer of South Australia | |
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In office 10 March 1965 – 1 June 1967 |
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| Preceded by | Sir Thomas Playford IV |
| Succeeded by | Don Dunstan |
| Member of the South Australian Parliament for Edwardstown |
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In office 3 March 1956 – 2 March 1968 |
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| Preceded by | New district |
| Succeeded by | Geoff Virgo |
| Member of the South Australian Parliament for Goodwood |
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In office 29 March 1941 – 3 March 1956 |
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| Preceded by | George Illingworth |
| Succeeded by | District abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 6 July 1897 O'Halloran Hill, South Australia, British Empire |
| Died | 18 May 1968 (aged 70) Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
| Political party | Australian Labor Party (SA) |
Francis Henry "Frank" Walsh (6 July 1897 – 18 May 1968) was the 34th Premier of South Australia from 10 March 1965 to 1 June 1967, representing the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party.
One of eight children, Walsh was born into an Irish Catholic family in O'Halloran Hill, South Australia. After an education at Christian Brothers College, Walsh left school at fifteen to work as a stonemason, which sparked his interest in the trade union movement. Walsh would serve as President of the South Australian Stonemason's Society and the national stonemason body and as a member of the United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia, while still finding the time to continue working as a stonemason and marry on 29 December 1925.
Walsh first stood for Labor in the safe conservative electorate of Mitcham at the 1938 state election and while losing to the Liberal and Country League (LCL) member, impressed senior ALP figures sufficiently to gain endorsement for the safe Labor seat of Goodwood (replaced by Edwardstown in 1956). Walsh duly entered parliament in March 1941 and was elected as Deputy Opposition Leader of the state parliamentary Labor Party in 1949, when it became clear no one else wanted the job. Labor had by then been in opposition in South Australia since 1933. The LCL, led by Sir Thomas Playford, ruled South Australia through a time of strong economic development and held power thanks to an electoral malappointment known as the Playmander, in which rural areas were significantly overrepresented in the legislature. In response, many South Australian Labor politicians believed the Deputy Opposition Leader's role to be a thankless, poor-paying job.
Following the split in the Labor Party in 1955, Walsh, along with Opposition leader Mick O'Halloran, resisted numerous overtures to join the heavily Catholic Democratic Labor Party (DLP). Their opposition ensured that the DLP did not attain the same influence in South Australian politics that it did in Victoria and Queensland.
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