Why Don Dunstan Needs a Statue Words by Franceso Dizazzo
“He was good. But was he that good?” A friend of mine dubiously asked me this one evening over drinks.
I had just told him I was writing an article on my personal hero: the late Donald Allan Dunstan. Don was South Australia’s Premier for ten combined years between 1967 and 1979. He was a trailblazing figure who added flair and colour to state politics. Dunstan’s achievements are quite remarkable. Boldly progressive and forward-thinking, his leadership came after 36 (that’s not a typo!) years of uninterrupted conservative rule. Dunstan demonstrated what a Premier could do for one’s state, while utterly devoted to making the lives of South Australians fairer and more pleasurable. “You haven’t convinced me yet mate,” my friend went on to say, bringing me back down to earth after a fan-boy spiel. Well, it’s now my mission to convince you (and my stubborn mate) that Don needs a statue. Dunstan’s government was anything but conventional. It truly set the tone for progressive change in 1970’s Australia. As Dunstan immodestly put it, ‘our laws and administration against discrimination of race, sex, and marital status led Australia.’ And he was right. SA became a beacon for ‘progressive 34
firsts’ under his government. We were the first state to decriminalise homosexuality; the first to establish an environmental department; the first to have a festival centre; the first to implement anti-discrimination legislation in Australia; the first-ever land rights legislation (anywhere!) for Indigenous people. We appointed Australia’s first female judge in Dame Roma Mitchell, the first non-British Governor in Sir Mark Oliphant, and later the first Indigenous governor in Sir Douglas Nicholls. Along with Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, Dunstan was instrumental in first removing the White Australia policy from the Labor platform and then eventually around the country. Parliament’s dress code was relaxed, Dunstan himself flaunted his famous pink shorts at Parliament in 1972. Significant investment into the arts led to the establishment of the South Australian Film Corporation. Laws were put in place to protect our heritage buildings, saving some iconic Adelaidean buildings from destruction. Laws for serving alcohol after hours were relaxed, thus the dreaded ‘6 O’clock Swill’ was dead. So next time you grab a drink from the Uni-Bar after
