Des Corcoran

James Desmond "Des" Corcoran was born on 8 November 1928 in Millicent, South Australia.[1] He was the youngest of nine children of Jim Corcoran and his wife Teresa Catherine née Sutton.[2] Des attended Tantanoola Primary School,[3] but left school at 13 and worked in a bakery.[2] He joined the Australian Labor Party in 1941, aged 15.[4] His mother died when he was 16, and around that time he and his older brother Robert embarked on a working holiday around Australia. While in Wollongong in New South Wales, they saw an advertisement for men to enlist in the Australian Army to fight in the Korean War, and after tossing a coin to decide what to do, they both went to enlist.[2] In the meantime, following his unsuccessful attempt to be elected to the two-member electoral district of Victoria in the South Australian House of Assembly in a by-election in 1932, Jim Corcoran was also an unsuccessful candidate for the same, now single-member, district in the state elections of 1933[5] and 1944,[6] before finally prevailing in a by-election in September 1945.[7] He was unsuccessful in his bid to be re-elected in the 1947 state election,[8] and was unsuccessful again in the 1950 state election.[9]

Robert served in Korea as a Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps sergeant with the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment in 1951–1952,[10] and Des was allocated the service number 23934, and was allotted as an infantry soldier and posted to the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1 RAR).[1] The battalion trained at Ingleburn, New South Wales, then embarked at Sydney on 3 March 1952 and sailed for Japan on the troop transport MV Devonshire,[11] arriving in Kure on 18 March. After further training, 1 RAR were transported to Korea aboard the Empire Longford and disembarked in Korea on 1 June to join the 28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade.[12] The following month the battalion was detached to the British 29th Infantry Brigade, and relieved units on Hills 159, 210 and 355. Its duties included general patrolling along the Jamestown Line, a series of static defensive positions just north of the 38th Parallel (38°N) along which the earlier mobile war had settled into trench warfare. Its main tasks were securing defences, repairing minefield fences, and conducting reconnaissance of enemy positions to gather information.[11]

By early December 1952,[2] Des was a corporal and temporary sergeant in D Company[13][14] when a four-man patrol was negotiating an enemy minefield. One of the men initiated a mine and was killed by the resulting explosion, which wounded two others. The unwounded soldier ran back to friendly lines for assistance, and Corcoran came forward under enemy mortar fire, dragged and carried the wounded men in, and then brought in the body of the dead soldier.[2] For his "courage and skill in evacuating casualties through minefield gaps", and as a patrol commander in 1 RAR, Corcoran was mentioned in despatches.[13] While Des was still serving in Korea, his father Jim was again elected to the district of Victoria in the March 1953 state election.[15] Des returned to Australia in March 1954, and after several weeks' leave, was posted to New Guinea.[16]

At the 1956 state election, Jim Corcoran successfully contested the new electoral district of Millicent which had been excised from the district of Victoria as part of a redistribution,[17] and successfully defended it in the 1959 state election.[18]

Des Corcoran was promoted to warrant officer class two and served for twenty months as the company sergeant major of the 28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade Group in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency, for which he was mentioned in despatches for a second time,[19][20] this time for "outstanding service".[2] Identified for his potential as an officer but lacking the necessary educational qualifications, Corcoran undertook six months of study with the Army Education Service to receive his intermediate certificate, then completed his leaving certificate in six weeks, completing five subjects with a distinction in English.[2] He was subsequently commissioned as a captain.[4]

Des Corcoran

Corcoran left the Army in 1961 and in the 1962 state election was elected to the House of Assembly, succeeding his father as the member for Millicent.[4] He received 53.1 per cent of the two-party preferred votes, defeating Ren DeGaris of the Liberal and Country League (LCL).[21] Corcoran quickly impressed many within the Labor Party with his vigorous approach and his talent for administration. When the ALP won government in South Australia for the first time since 1930 in the 1965 state election,[22] Corcoran became Minister of Irrigation, Minister of Lands, and Minister of Repatriation.[4] In the election, Corcoran increased his share of the votes to 61.8 per cent.[23] Corcoran served on the parliamentary committee on land settlement from March to November 1965.[4] The new Premier, Frank Walsh, made Corcoran his chief political confidant. Like Walsh, Corcoran was a firm anti-communist and a devout Catholic. In fact, Walsh wanted Corcoran to be his successor, hoping thereby to foil the ambitions of Deputy Leader Don Dunstan, whom Walsh resented and distrusted. Corcoran's father Jim died in May 1965.[24]

Coinciding with the septuagenarian Walsh's retirement in May 1967, there was an ALP leadership ballot which included Corcoran, Dunstan, Gabe Bywaters and Cyril Hutchens. In the first round Corcoran received ten votes and Dunstan nine from the caucus of twenty-five, but in the second round Dunstan was the clear winner with fourteen votes and a majority, with Corcoran receiving eleven votes.[25][26] Corcoran was named deputy leader. In Dunstan's 1967–1968 cabinet, Corcoran dropped the repatriation portfolio and took up immigration, retaining lands and irrigation.[4] In March 1968, Corcoran became deputy premier and gained the tourism portfolio, which was combined with immigration.[4]

Labor lost its majority at the May 1968 state election, mainly due to losing two marginal rural seats. Corcoran was nearly defeated in his own seat, winning by just one vote over his LCL rival Martin Cameron. Cameron disputed the result and a by-election was held in June, with Corcoran receiving 52.5 per cent of the votes, leaving the new Steele Hall LCL government to rely on the casting vote of independent Speaker Tom Stott.[27] Following the election, Corcoran became deputy opposition leader under Dunstan.[4]

In Labor's victory at the 1970 election,[28] Corcoran retained the seat of Millicent with 54 per cent of the votes.[28] He resumed his role as deputy premier, and held the works and marine portfolios.[4]

Over the next nine years, Dunstan and Corcoran made an unconventional but functional team. Corcoran privately opposed many of the social reforms Dunstan was implementing, such as liberalised abortion and homosexuality laws. In addition, Corcoran disliked Dunstan's glamorous image and fondness for the arts. A conservative dresser, Corcoran did not at all share Dunstan's enthusiasm for wearing casual clothes on public occasions. Nevertheless, the two men felt a wary respect for one another and managed to maintain a working relationship. Behind the scenes, Dunstan sometimes found Corcoran's plain-speaking style useful, in order to control others within the ALP. Meanwhile, Dunstan remained the public face of the Labor government over the next decade.

When Corcoran's majority in Millicent was redistributed away ahead of the 1975 election, Corcoran transferred to the Adelaide-area seat of Coles. However, when a redistribution made that seat, in turn, unwinnable before the 1977 election, Corcoran transferred to nearby Hartley.

By early 1979, Dunstan's health had deteriorated to the point that he could not continue in office, and he resigned on 15 February. Corcoran was elected his successor, thus finally achieving his dream of becoming Premier. He also served as Treasurer and Minister for Ethnic Affairs. Spurred by positive opinion polls, Corcoran called a snap election two years before it was due (without pre-informing the party apparatus) in the hope that he would gain a mandate of his own. The election campaign was plagued by problems; the state's main newspaper, The Advertiser, openly favored the Liberal campaign.

At the election, Labor suffered an 8% swing against it and lost to the Liberals under David Tonkin. After the election, Corcoran soon resigned from the Labor leadership and was succeeded by the much younger John Bannon, whose urbane style and academic background brought him a lot closer to Dunstan than to Corcoran. In 1982, Bannon easily defeated Tonkin and led Labor back into government. Corcoran did not run in that election.

Corcoran was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 1982 Australia Day Honours, "in recognition of service to politics and government".[29]

Corcoran died in 2004, aged 75, and was survived by his wife, Carmel, their eight children and twelve grandchildren.