List of Premiers of South Australia by time in office

This is a list of Premiers of South Australia by time in office. The basis of the list is the inclusive number of years and days between dates.

Rank by time in office

Parties

      Australian Labor Party       Liberal Party of Australia       Liberal and Country League / Liberal Federation       Non-Party Conservatism       Non-Party Liberalism

	Rank:	No:	Premier:	Portrait:	Party:	District:	Assumed Office:	Left Office:	TERM Time in Office:	TOTAL Time in Office:	Election Wins:
	1.	33rd	Sir Thomas Playford (1896–1981) GCMG		Liberal & Country League	MP for Gumeracha (1938–1968)	5 November 1938	10 March 1965			1941 1944 1947 1950 1953 1956 1959 1962
	2.	39th	John Bannon (1943–2015) AO		Labor	MP for Ross Smith (1977–1993)	10 November 1982	4 September 1992			1982 1985 1989
	3.	44th	Mike Rann (1953– ) CNZM		Labor	MP for Ramsay (1993–2012)	5 March 2002	21 October 2011			2002 2006 2010
	4.	35th	Don Dunstan (1926–1999) AC, QC		Labor	MP for Norwood (1953–1979)	1 June 1967	17 April 1968		9 years, 214 days	1970 1973 1975 1977
							2 June 1970	15 February 1979
	5.	31st	Sir Richard Butler (1885–1966) KCMG		Liberal & Country League	MP for Wooroora (1921–1938)	8 April 1927	17 April 1930		8 years, 210 days	1927 1933 1938
							18 April 1933	5 November 1938
	6.	25th	Archibald Peake (1859–1920)		Liberal & Democratic Union	MP for Victoria & Albert (1902–1915) Alexandra (1915–1920)	5 June 1909	3 June 1910		6 years, 312 days	1912 1918
					Liberal Union		17 February 1912	3 April 1915
							14 July 1917	8 April 1920
	7.	20th	Charles Kingston (1850–1908)		Non-Party Liberalism	MP for West Adelaide (1881–1900)	16 June 1893	1 December 1899			1893 1896 1899
	8.	42nd	John Olsen (1945– ) AO		Liberal	MP for Kavel (1992–2002)	28 November 1996	22 October 2001			1997
	9.	45th	Jay Weatherill (1964– )		Labor	MP for Cheltenham (2002– )	21 October 2011	Incumbent			2014
	10.	8th	Sir Henry Ayers (1821–1897) GCMG		No Party Alignment	Member of the Legislative Council (1857–1893)	15 July 1863	4 August 1864		4 years, 34 days
							20 September 1865	23 October 1865
							3 May 1867	24 September 1868
							13 October 1868	3 November 1868
							22 January 1872	22 July 1873
	11.	28th	Sir Henry Barwell (1877–1959) KCMG		Liberal Federation	MP for Stanley (1915–1925)	8 April 1920	16 April 1924			1921
	12.	17th	Thomas Playford (1837–1915)		No Party Alignment	MP for Newcastle (1887–1890) East Torrens (1890–1894)	11 June 1887	27 June 1889		3 years, 323 days
							19 August 1890	21 June 1892
	13.	24th	Thomas Price (1852–1909)		Labor	MP for Torrens (1902–1909)	26 July 1905	5 June 1909			1905 1906
	14.	22nd	John Jenkins (1851–1923)		Non-Party Liberalism	MP for Torrens (1901–1905)	15 May 1901	1 March 1905			1902
	15.	30th	Lionel Hill (1881–1963)		Labor	MP for Port Pirie (1918–1933)	28 August 1926	8 April 1927		3 years, 160 days	1930
							17 April 1930	13 February 1933
	16.	38th	Dr David Tonkin (1929–2000) AO		Liberal	MP for Bragg (1970–1983)	18 September 1979	10 November 1982			1979
	17.	11th	Sir James Boucaut (1831–1916) KCMG		No Party Alignment	MP for Encounter Bay (1875–1878)	28 March 1866	3 May 1867		3 years, 10 days
							3 June 1875	6 June 1876
							26 October 1877	27 September 1878
	18.	15th	Sir John Bray (1842–1894) KCMG, JP		No Party Alignment	MP for East Adelaide (1871–1892)	24 June 1881	16 June 1884
	19.	41st	Dean Brown (1943– ) AO		Liberal	MP for Finniss (1993–2006)	14 December 1993	28 November 1996			1993
	20.	14th	Sir William Morgan (1828–1883) KCMG		No Party Alignment	Member of the Legislative Council (1867–1884)	27 September 1878	24 June 1881
	21.	9th	Sir Arthur Blyth (1823–1890) KCMG		No Party Alignment	MP for Gumeracha (1857–1868)	4 August 1864	22 March 1865		2 years, 254 days
						MP for Gumeracha (1870–1875)	10 November 1871	22 January 1872
							22 July 1873	3 June 1875
	22.	16th	Sir John Downer (1843–1915) KCMG, QC		No Party Alignment	MP for Barossa (1878–1901)	16 June 1885	11 June 1887		2 year, 239 days
					Non-Party Conservatism		15 October 1892	16 June 1893
	23.	4th	Sir Richard Hanson (1805–1876)		No Party Alignment	MP for Adelaide (1857–1861)	30 September 1857	9 May 1860
	24.	13th	Sir John Colton (1823–1902) KCMG		No Party Alignment	MP for Noarlunga (1875–1878) (1889–1887)	6 June 1876	26 October 1877		2 years, 142 days
							16 June 1884	16 June 1885
	25.	29th	John Gunn (1884–1959)		Labor	MP for Adelaide (1918–1926)	16 April 1924	28 August 1926			1924
	26.	27th	Crawford Vaughan (1874–1947)		Labor	MP for Sturt (1915–1918)	3 April 1915	14 July 1917			1915
;	27.	34th	Frank Walsh (1897–1968)		Labor	MP for Edwardstown (1956–1968)	10 March 1965	1 June 1967			1965
	28.	36th	Steele Hall (1928– )		Liberal & Country League	MP for Gouger (1959–1973)	17 April 1968	2 June 1970			1968
	29.	10th	John Hart (1809–1873)		No Party Alignment	MP for Port Adelaide (1862–1866) Light (1868–1870) The Burra (1870–1873)	23 October 1865	28 March 1866		1 year, 339 days
							24 September 1868	13 October 1868
							30 May 1870	10 November 1871
	30.	19th	Sir Frederick Holder (1850–1909) KCMG		No Party Alignment	MP for Burra (1887–1901)	21 June 1892	15 October 1892		1 year, 274 days
					Non-Party Liberalism		8 December 1899	15 May 1901
	31.	6th	George Waterhouse (1824–1906)		No Party Alignment	Member of the Legislative Council (1860–1864)	8 October 1861	4 July 1863
	32.	26th	John Verran (1856–1932)		Labor	MP for Wallaroo (1901–1918)	3 June 1910	17 February 1912			1910
	33.	12th	Henry Strangways (1832–1920)		No Party Alignment	MP for West Torrens (1862–1871)	3 November 1868	30 May 1870
	34.	5th	Thomas Reynolds (1818–1875)		No Party Alignment	MP for Adelaide (1860–1862)	9 May 1860	8 October 1861
	35.	40th	Lynn Arnold (1949– ) AO		Labor	MP for Ramsay (1985–1993)	4 September 1992	14 December 1993
	36.	18th	Sir John Cockburn (1850–1929) KCMG		No Party Alignment	MP for Mount Barker (1887–1898)	27 June 1889	19 August 1890			1890
	37.	1st	Boyle Travers Finniss (1807–1893)		No Party Alignment	MP for Adelaide (1857–1860)	24 October 1856	21 August 1857
	38.	37th	Des Corcoran (1928–2004) AO		Labor	MP for Hartley (1977–1982)	15 February 1979	18 September 1979
	39.	7th	Francis Dutton (1818–1877) CMG		No Party Alignment	MP for Light (1862–1865)	4 July 1863	15 July 1863		193 days
							22 March 1865	20 September 1865
	40.	43rd	Rob Kerin (1954– )		Liberal	MP for Frome (1993–2008)	22 October 2001	5 April 2002
	41.	23rd	Sir Richard Butler (1850–1925)		Non-Party Conservatism	MP for Barossa (1902–1924)	1 March 1905	26 July 1905
	42.	32nd	Robert Richards (1885–1967)		Labor	MP for Wallaroo (1918–1949)	13 February 1933	18 April 1933
	43.	3rd	Sir Robert Torrens (1814–1884) GCMG		No Party Alignment	MP for Adelaide (1857–1858)	1 September 1857	30 September 1857
	44.	2nd	John Baker (1813–1872)		No Party Alignment	Member of the Legislative Council (1857–1861)	21 August 1857	1 September 1857
	45.	21st	Vaiben Louis Solomon (1853–1908)		Non-Party Conservatism	MP for Northern Territory (1891–1901)	1 December 1899	8 December 1899

Total time in office of political parties in South Australia

South Australian Parliament – days as of 6 June 2024

Before Political Parties

• Independent – days
• Non-Party Conservatism – days.
• Non-Party Liberalism – days.

Since 26 July 1905

• Australian Labor Party – days as of 6 June 2024.
• Conservative or Liberal: 21570 days.
  • Liberal and Country League – days.
  • Liberal Party of Australia – days.
  • Liberal Federation – days.
  • Liberal Union – days.
  • Liberal and Democratic Union – days.

See also

• Premier of South Australia
• List of Prime Ministers of Australia by time in office
• List of Australian State Premiers by time in office
• List of Premiers of New South Wales by time in office
• List of Premiers of Queensland by time in office
• List of Premiers of Tasmania by time in office
• List of Premiers of Victoria by time in office
• List of Premiers of Western Australia by time in office
• List of Chief Ministers of the Northern Territory by time in office