Ian Macfarlan (born John Robert Macfarlan; 21 November 1881 – 19 March 1964) was the Deputy Leader of the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n Liberal Party in the

n state of Victoria during 1945. He was briefly commissioned as the 35th Premier of Victoria by the Governor and formed a government which brought about the end of the

Dunstan Saint Dunstan (c. 909 – 19 May 988) was an English bishop. He was successively Abbot of Glastonbury, Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, Bishop of Worcester, Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury, later canonised as a saint. His work restor ...

Ministry. MacFarlan was the Member for

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

from 1928 until 1945 and was Attorney-General and Solicitor-General on 3 occasions, from 26 November 1928 until 11 December 1929 in the government of William McPherson, from 25 July 1934 until 1 April 1935 in the government of

Stanley Argyle Sir Stanley Seymour Argyle KBE, MRCS, LRCP (4 December 1867 – 23 November 1940), was an Australian doctor, radiologist, businessman, and politician. Argyle was the former Leader of the Opposition, Treasurer and Premier of Victoria, achievi ...

and from 8 September 1943 until 20 November 1945 in the government of Albert Dunstan. MacFarlan was a member for the Nationalist Party, which later became the United Australia Party (UAP) in 1931. He became unsatisfied with UAP's strategic inflexibility and left the UAP in 1937 to serve as a liberal independent. In 1943, he was persuaded to rejoin the party as deputy to party leader Thomas Hollway. The UAP became the Liberal Party of Australia in 1945.

Premiership

At the end of September 1945, the government of Albert Dunstan was defeated in the Legislative Assembly, when it voted to refuse Supply to his government. Five Liberals, two Country Party members and one Independent voted with the Labor Opposition, on the grounds of dissatisfaction with the government's legislative program and opposition to Dunstan's leadership. Instead of resigning, however, Dunstan persuaded the Governor, Sir

Winston Dugan Major General Winston Joseph Dugan, 1st Baron Dugan of Victoria, (3 September 1876 – 17 August 1951), known as Sir Winston Dugan between 1934 and 1949, was a British administrator and a career British Army officer. He served as Governor of S ...

, to grant him a dissolution of Parliament, conditional on the budget being passed. These terms drew fire from the Opposition who claimed that the Governor in his letter to the Premier had left himself open to the charge of instructing the Assembly to grant Supply to a ministry which had already been refused it and to no other. When it became clear that the Assembly would not grant Supply to the Dunstan Ministry, the Governor commissioned Macfarlan, who was the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, as Premier, on the production of written assurances of support from the Labor Opposition and from members of the Liberal Party, the Country Party and the Independents whose revolt had led to Dunstan's defeat. Macfarlan formed a government, both Houses passed Votes of Supply, and the dissolution took immediate effect. At the subsequent state election in November, the Labor Party obtained a majority (with the support of two Independents) and formed a government. The state of parties was Labor 32, United Country Party 18, Liberals 13, Independents 2. Macfarlan was one of the defeated candidates. With a premiership lasting just 50 days, Macfarlan is the shortest serving Liberal Premier of Victoria, and is the second shortest serving Premier of Victoria behind

George Elmslie George Grant Elmslie (February 20, 1869 – April 23, 1952) was a Scottish-born American Prairie School architect whose work is mostly found in the Midwestern United States. He worked with Louis Sullivan and later with William Gray Purcell ...

(13 days).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macfarlan, Ian 1881 births 1964 deaths Premiers of Victoria Deputy Premiers of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Australian people of Scottish descent Treasurers of Victoria Attorneys-General of Victoria Solicitors-General of Victoria Politicians from Melbourne 20th-century Australian politicians