Sir Keith Douglas Seaman (11 June 1920 – 30 June 2013) was

Governor of South Australia The governor of South Australia is the representative in South Australia of the monarch, currently King Charles III. The governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the governor-general of Aust ...

from 1 September 1977 until 28 March 1982. He was the second successive governor to have been a

minister of religion In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance ...

, Seaman being a minister in then recently merged

Uniting Church in Australia The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) is a united church in Australia. The church was founded on 22 June 1977 when most Wiktionary:congregation, congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church o ...

Life

Seaman was born in

McLaren Vale, South Australia McLaren Vale is a town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia located about south of the Adelaide city centre Adelaide city centre () is the inner city locality of Adelaide, Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Au ...

, on 11 June 1920. His father was Eli Semmens Seaman (1881-1956) and his mother was Ethel Maud Morgan (1883-1930). He was the 7th of their 8 children. His paternal grandfather, Philip Seaman (1841-1916), was born in Suffolk, UK, before migrating to South Australia and having 12 children. Seaman attended Adelaide University. He enlisted in February 1940 and served in World War II as a flight lieutenant for the RAAF. After the war, he continued his studies of arts and laws part-time. In 1954, he became an ordained Methodist minister in Renmark and worked at the Central Methodist Mission from 1958 to 1977. He eventually became superintendent of the Adelaide CMM (now Uniting Communities, formerly UnitingCare Wesley Adelaide), and in 1973 was a member of the National Commission on Social Welfare under Marie Coleman which was set up by Prime Minister

Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from December 1972 to November 1975. To date the longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he was notable for being ...

. Seaman was a conservative selection as governor. His term as governor was not without controversy. On 24 February 1978, '' The Advertiser'' in Adelaide reported that he was about to be dismissed. He was not, but was forced to admit that he had committed a "grave impropriety" prior to his appointment; it had been examined by the Uniting Church discipline committee and he had been allowed to continue his ministry.

Personal life

Seaman married Joan Isabel Birbeck (5 November 1922-20 October 2008). They had 2 children and 10 grandchildren. While governor, he was made a Knight of the Royal Victorian Order (a British award) by Queen Elizabeth. He died at his home in Hobart in June 2013, aged 93.

References

External links

*, The Bulletin, 2002.
Prime Minister's press conference, 3 April 1973
announcing National Commission on Social Welfare. www.whitlam.org, retrieved 2008-10-10. {{DEFAULTSORT:Seaman, Keith Governors of South Australia Uniting Church in Australia ministers 1920 births 2013 deaths Australian Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire