John Southwood

Background

Southwood was born at Wallaroo, and apprenticed as a printer with a local firm.

Career

He represented the South Australian House of Assembly multi-member seats of Wallaroo from 1912 to 1915 and East Torrens from 1915 to 1921. He was elected to the House of Assembly at the 1912 state election for Wallaroo, but successfully shifted to East Torrens in 1915 when a redistribution reduced the number of members for the Wallaroo electorate. A supporter of conscription in World War I, he was expelled from the Labor Party in the 1917 Labor split and joined the new National Party, which went into coalition with the conservative Liberal Union.

He retired at the 1921 election.

Southwood was elected South Australian state secretary of the Australian Theatrical and Amusement Employees" Association in 1915, succeeding Lionel Hill. He served as state secretary for thirty years, retiring in 1945, only two weeks before his death.

He had also served two terms as the union"s federal president

Politics

Prior to entering state politics, he was a local councillor at Kadina for several years, including a stint as mayor, and was successful in establishing a municipal electric plant in the face of significant opposition. He was re-elected for the National Party at the 1918 election, but resigned from that party to sit as an Independent Labor Master of Health Administration in 1920 after disagreements with the agenda of the conservative government.

Membership

He was a member of the United Labor Party until 1917, when he joined the National Party after the 1917 Labor split, but sat as an independent from 1920 until his retirement in 1921.

Connections

Partner:

George Spring