Sol Rosevear - Politics

Politics

Rosevear was an official in the Australian Labor Party and organised Ted Theodore's campaign in 1929. After the 1931 Labor split, however, Rosevear joined the Lang Labor breakaway and defeated Theodore for his seat of Dalley in the elections of that year. He sat in the House of Representatives under the leadership of Jack Beasley until 1936, when the two factions reunited; in the second split of 1940, Rosevear was deputy-leader of the Australian Labor Party (Non-Communist).

In 1941, John Curtin reunited the Labor Party and Rosevear rejoined the ALP. He was disappointed not to receive a cabinet post, but was appointed Speaker of the House of Representatives on 22 June 1943. He gained a reputation as an inflexible Speaker, accused by the media and the Opposition of partisanship; journalist E.H. Cox claimed that he was "frequently drunk in the Chair". Rosevear also permitted illegal gambling in the Chamber, and participated himself.

Rosevear continued to be influential in caucus, and it was rumoured that he hoped to succeed Ben Chifley as party leader; his "taste for grog" was seen as a disqualification by some, however. In 1949, the Chifley government was defeated and Rosevear lost the Speakership under new Liberal Prime Minister Robert Menzies. He continued to sit in the House until his death of coronary occlusion on 21 March 1953, and was survived by his wife, a son, and a daughter. A portrait of Rosevear by Joshua Smith won the Archibald Prize in 1944.