South Australians are rightfully proud of Farmers Union Iced Coffee, Balfours Frog Cakes, pie floaters, fritz and sauce, The Adelaide Oval, the Fringe and all the rest of Mad March but South Australia was also the home of Don Dunstan who is the only Australian politician ever to wear pink shorts in Parliament.
Don Dunstan was a reformer who brought profound change to South Australian society. His socially progressive administration saw Aboriginal land rights recognised, homosexuality decriminalised, the first female judge appointed, the first non-British governor, Sir Mark Oliphant, and later, the first indigenous governor Douglas Nicholls. He enacted consumer protection laws, reformed and expanded the public education and health systems, abolished the death penalty, relaxed censorship and drinking laws, created a ministry for the environment, enacted anti-discrimination law, and implemented electoral reforms such as an overhaul of the Legislative Council of parliament, lowered the voting age to 18, enacted universal suffrage, and completely abolished malapportionment, changes which gave him a less hostile parliament and allowed him to enact his reforms. He closed part of Rundle Street to vehicle traffic to create Rundle Mall, enacted measures to protect buildings of historical heritage, and encouraged a flourishing of the arts, with support for the Adelaide Festival Centre, the State Theatre Company, and the establishment of the South Australian Film Corporation. He encouraged cultural exchanges with Asia, multiculturalism and an increase in the state's culinary awareness and sophistication. He is recognised for his role in reinvigorating the social, artistic and cultural life of South Australia during his nine years in office, remembered as the Dunstan Decade.
But it's a bit like that joke about Spiros the goat f*&ker - people only remember that one day he wore pink shorts to Parliament.
South Australia Shirt by retrofitthefuture
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