John Trezise Tonkin (2 February 1902 – 20 October 1995) was an Australian politician who was the premier of Western Australia from 3 March 1971 to 8 April 1974. A member of the Labor Party, Tonkin was a minister in the Willcock, Wise and Hawke state governments. He was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1933 to 1977, making him the longest-serving member of the Parliament of Western Australia as of 2021.
Tonkin was born in the Goldfields town of Boulder, Western Australia, the eldest of three children. His family moved several times before returning to Boulder, where he attended Boulder City Central School and Eastern Goldfields High School. After several successive jobs, he graduated from Claremont Teachers College and became a teacher, mainly working in small schools in rural areas. After several unsuccessful attempts to enter state parliament, Tonkin was elected as the member for North-East Fremantle in the 1933 state election.
Tonkin first served as a minister from 1943 to 1947. He held several portfolios during this time, the most important being education. Labor lost the 1947 state election which resulted in Tonkin losing his portfolios. He transferred to the electoral district of Melville when North-East Fremantle was abolished in 1950. After the resignation of Wise as Labor leader in 1951, Hawke became leader and Tonkin became deputy leader. When Labor won the 1953 state election, he reassumed his role as a minister, including as the minister for works and minister for water supplies. In 1955, he became the first deputy premier of Western Australia following an act of parliament to formally create the position. Labor lost the 1959 state election, causing Tonkin to lose his portfolios again.
Following the resignation of Hawke in 1966, Tonkin became the leader of the Labor Party in Western Australia. After its longest period in opposition ever, the Labor Party won the 1971 state election to defeat David Brand and make Tonkin premier. Labor's one-seat majority meant that any by-election had a chance of defeating the Tonkin government. By-elections occurred in 1971 and 1973, each of which was narrowly won by Labor. The Tonkin government's achievements included reforms in industrial relations and employment, and the passing of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972. After three years in government, Labor was defeated in the 1974 state election. Tonkin was succeeded as premier by Charles Court. Tonkin was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1977, and has been honoured with the Tonkin Highway and John Tonkin College being named after him.
Tonkin was born on 2 February 1902 in the town of Boulder, near Kalgoorlie, in the Goldfields of Western Australia. His parents were engine driver John Trezise Tonkin and Julia, née Carrigan, both of whom were born in Australia and had Cornish ancestry. He was the eldest of three surviving children and was brought up as a Methodist, although his mother was Catholic. In his early childhood, the Tonkin family moved to the states of Victoria and South Australia, then to the town of Gwalia in Western Australia, before moving back to Boulder. He attended Boulder City Central School (graduating as a dux) and Eastern Goldfields High School. His father was a unionist and a supporter of the Australian Labor Party and Tonkin became interested in politics at a young age.
After leaving school at 15, Tonkin worked as an office boy for Kalgoorlie Electric Power Co. Ltd., a monitor at Brown Hill State School, and a relief teacher at Edjudina. In 1921 and 1922, he studied at Claremont Teachers College in Perth and graduated with a teaching certificate. He then taught at several small schools in the South West until 1930, including in Yallingup, Nuralingup, Margaret River, Kulin, Picton, Karnup, Hamel and Palgarup. Tonkin married Rosalie Maud Cleghorn at St Mary's Church in West Perth on 29 December 1926. They had met at school in Boulder and had attended Claremont Teachers College together. In 1930 they moved to Perth, and Tonkin taught at schools in North Perth and North Fremantle. He also studied accounting by correspondence.
Tonkin joined the Labor Party in 1923 and started a branch in Forest Grove. He unsuccessfully contested two seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Western Australia: Sussex in 1927 and Murray-Wellington in 1930. These campaigns helped him gain a profile within the Labor Party. The party's state congress appointed Tonkin to a committee to assess C. H. Douglas's social credit theory that the government could help the ongoing economic crisis by "[taking] over the control and issue of all money" from the banking system. Among the other five members of the committee was future prime minister of Australia John Curtin. The committee concluded that the scheme was "theoretically unsound and unworkable in practice".
Tonkin narrowly won the Labor Party's endorsement for the marginal Legislative Assembly seat of North-East Fremantle for the 1933 state election. He then defeated the minister for education, Hubert Parker, to become the first teacher to be elected to the Parliament of Western Australia. The Labor Party gained seven seats in total, enough for Philip Collier to become premier of Western Australia. Among those elected were two other future premiers: Frank Wise and Bert Hawke. Wise, Hawke and Tonkin soon became leading members of the backbench, becoming known as the "three musketeers". The Labor caucus elected Wise to the ministry in 1935 and Hawke in 1936, but Tonkin had to wait until 1943 due to his lack of union or religious connections. He also annoyed his colleagues by speaking on a wide range of issues and for having a tendency to lecture.
The parliamentary term for the Legislative Assembly was three years. Tonkin came close to losing in the 1936 state election, which led him to pay more attention to the needs of his constituency. He improved his skills in parliament and adjusted his approach to be less aggressive and more measured. Tonkin increased his margin in the 1939 state election. After the death of May Holman, Tonkin became state secretary of the Labor Party, a role in which he served until 1943. In 1940, he was granted leave from parliament to enlist in the Citizen Military Forces (now the Australian Army Reserve) to fight in World War II. He enlisted with the 25th Light Horse Regiment in October 1940, became a qualified signaller in January 1941, and joined the 11th Battalion in May 1941 upon being promoted to corporal. In December 1941, he was called up for full-time deployment and the battalion was mobilised, but Tonkin spent much of that time on leave without pay. He was promoted to sergeant in January 1942, and on 30 January 1942, he was discharged.
In 1942, Tonkin and Hawke were appointed by cabinet to travel to the eastern states to lobby Prime Minister John Curtin, commonwealth ministers, and departmental heads for greater defences for Western Australia. It was felt that the state was vulnerable to a possible Japanese attack. Curtin was also the local member for Fremantle in the Australian House of Representatives and Tonkin had a close working relationship with him. In late 1942 and early 1943, Tonkin supported Curtin's attempts to introduce conscription for soldiers to defend Australia.
Willcock and Wise governments (1943–1947)
The next state election was held in December 1943. The election had been postponed by two years due to the war and Labor won for the fourth time in a row. Under Labor Party rules, the ministry was chosen by the Labor caucus and the premier allocated their roles. Tonkin was elected and Premier John Willcock appointed him as minister for education, fulfilling a long-held dream of Tonkin's, and minister for social services, a newly-created position. He was sworn into the ministry on 9 December. Tonkin started to contemplate transferring to federal politics. He was asked to contest the 1945 Fremantle by-election after the death of Curtin, but he declined, wanting to remain involved in education in Western Australia. When Willcock resigned and Wise became premier in July 1945, Tonkin retained his ministry portfolios and took on the additional role of minister for agriculture.