Thomas Mannix Casey (12 March 1921 – 25 September 2003) was a politician in the State of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

History

He was born in

Quorn, South Australia Quorn is a small town and railhead in the Flinders Ranges region in the north of South Australia, northeast of Port Augusta, South Australia, Port Augusta. Situated on the traditional lands of the Nukunu people, the town now lies within the Fli ...

, where his father James Casey may have been proprietor of the Hotel Austral, then farmed at "Amelia Park",

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

. He was educated at

Unley High School Unley High School is a public coeducational secondary school, located in the Adelaide suburb of Netherby in South Australia. It is administered by the Department of Education, with an enrolment of 1,562 students and a teaching staff of 114, as ...

. He was chosen the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

candidate for the seat of

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills and on the River Frome, south of Bath. The population of the parish was 28,559 in 2021. Frome was one of the largest tow ...

in the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

in November 1960 following the unexpected death of sitting member

Mick O'Halloran Michael Raphael O'Halloran (12 April 1893 – 22 September 1960) was an Australian politician, representing the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party. He served as Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of South Australia ...

. Tom was not even a member of the Labor Party, but as a respected local identity was considered to have a better chance of following the idiosyncratic O'Halloran than an outsider from the Union movement. After a redistribution erased his majority and made Frome a notional LCL seat, Casey resigned in May 1970 to contest a Central No. 1 district seat in the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

. He held the seat until September 1979, when he resigned, having successfully made the transition to the single-electorate Council in 1975. He served for a month in 1968 as Minister of Agriculture and Forests, then again from 1970 to 1975; then from 1975 to 1979 as Minister of Tourism, Recreation and Sport, Minister of Lands and Minister of Repatriation.

Family

He married Margaret Mary Crick of

Thorpdale, Victoria Thorpdale is a town in the Gippsland area of eastern Victoria (Australia), Victoria in the Shire of Baw Baw. Famous for its potatoes, it is located amongst the rich farmland of the Latrobe Valley. Thorpdale Australian slang, spuds are eaten arou ...

in February 1946, and settled on the family farm "Amelia Park", near

References

Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Members of the South Australian Legislative Council 1921 births 2003 deaths People from Quorn, South Australia 20th-century Australian politicians People educated at Unley High School {{Australia-politician-stub