Thomas Hollway

Thomas Tuke Hollway (2 October 1906 – 30 July 1971) was the 36th Premier of Victoria, and the first to be born in the 20th century.

He studied arts and law at the University of Melbourne's Trinity College, and was admitted to practice as a solicitor in 1928, joining the Ballarat firm R. J. Gribble.

Hollway was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly at the 1932 Victorian state election, representing the seat of Ballarat.

At the time of his election, aged 25, he was the youngest member of any Australian parliament.

In 1940, he was made UAP party secretary and whip, and in the same year deputy leader of the UAP.

On 23 November 1940, UAP leader Sir Stanley Argyle died, and Hollway was elected party leader on 3 December.

In February 1942, whilst retaining his seat in parliament and the party leadership, Hollway enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force.

He trained as an intelligence officer and served as a Flying Officer in Papua, before being discharged and transferred to the reserves in July 1943.

In Albert Dunstan's second wartime government (1943–1945) Hollway was Deputy Premier of Victoria.

The UAP was brought under the Liberal Party of Australia banner in 1945 and Hollway became the inaugural leader of its Victorian division.

He held office from 1947 to 1950, and again for a short period in 1952.

He was originally a member and the leader of the United Australia Party (UAP) in Victoria, and was the inaugural leader of the UAP's successor, the Victorian division of the Liberal Party, but split from the Liberals after a dispute over electoral reform issues.

Thomas Tuke Hollway was born in Ballarat, the son of local merchant of the same name who would go on to become mayor of Ballarat, and Annie Nicholl.

He was educated locally, at the Macarthur Street School and Ballarat Church of England Grammar School.

At the 1947 state election held on 8 November, Hollway led a Liberal–Country coalition to defeat the incumbent Labor administration of John Cain Sr.

Hollway became Premier—at 41, he was among the youngest Premiers Victoria has ever had.

However, the coalition supporting him was not strong.

The Country Party's leader John McDonald was Hollway's initial Deputy Premier, however he was sacked as deputy in December 1948 after criticising Hollway's negotiations with the Trades Hall Council over transport strikes.

The coalition between the Liberals and Country Party was dissolved.

In March 1949, the Victorian division of the Liberal Party renamed itself the Liberal and Country Party in an attempt to absorb the Country Party's supporters.

In September six members of the Country Party defected to the LCP, further deepening the rift between the allies.

Hollway led the Liberal Party to victory in the 13 May 1950 state election, gaining the most seats of any party, and having supply support from the Country Party.

However this minority government arrangement was not to last for long.

Hollway lost office on 27 June 1950, when he was overthrown by the Country Party under McDonald.

This occurred when the Labor Party agreed to support a minority Country Party government.

Hollway advised the Governor of Victoria, Sir Dallas Brooks to dissolve parliament again citing what he called "a great electoral fraud", but Brooks refused, and appointed McDonald to form a government.

During his period as opposition leader, Hollway became a firm advocate of electoral reform.

He considered Victoria's electoral system to be heavily rurally-biased, and suggested redrawing the state's electoral boundaries to emulate Tasmania's, that is, to follow the federal electoral divisions which were less malapportioned.

His proposal was called the "two-for-one system", where each of Victoria's 33 federal electorates would be divided into two for the purposes of the state's lower house elections.

The Hollway Plan, if implemented, would have seriously reduced the representation of the Country Party, and as such was supported by the Labor party as well as several on the Liberal side.

Hollway convinced the state executive of the Liberal and Country Party to endorse his reform proposals, however there was considerable dissent in the party, particularly from members who feared losing their seats in the redistribution.

Hollway attempted to contain the divisions in his party, but on 4 December 1951, the party moved against him and his deputy Trevor Oldham, overthrowing their leadership and replacing them with Les Norman and Henry Bolte.

The vote was close (21 to 19), and three members who were likely to have supported Hollway in the ballot were absent.

Hollway continued to advocate for electoral reform, and worked closely with the Labor Party to attempt to achieve it.

He dismissed criticism of his negotiations with Labor with the assertion that his plan was for the good of the community, and transcended party politics.

On 17 September 1952, Hollway moved a motion of no confidence against McDonald's government, which was defeated by a one-vote majority.

The Liberals quickly moved to expel Hollway from the parliamentary party on 24 September, Norman stating that he had deliberately discredited the party while it was contesting two key by-elections.

The expulsion motion carried 23 to 9, with seven members walking out of the party meeting in solidarity with Hollway.

On 30 September 1952, LCP leader Les Norman told the Legislative Assembly that he was in possession of six affidavits testifying that a representative of Hollway had offered financial and political incentives to various members of the assembly in return for their support in his no-confidence motion against McDonald's government.

The accusers included the Speaker, Sir Archie Michaelis, who said that he had been offered the post of Agent-General and immunity from opposition at the next state election.