Rudall Reginald John
| Type of person | Individual |
|---|---|
| Also known as: | RJ |
| Date of birth | 1885 |
| Place of birth | Gawler |
| Principal occupation | Lawyer, Soldier, and Politician |
| Date of death | 1955 |
| Place of death | North Adelaide |
Reginald John Rudall (1885-1955), lawyer and politician, was born on 27 September 1885 at Gawler, South Australia. RJ was the eldest child of Samuel Bruce Rudall and Margaret Rudall (nee McNeil).
RJ attended Miss Burton's Private School in Gawler from 1895 to 1896, Queen's School in North Adelaide from 1897 to 1899, and the Collegiate School of St Peter from 1900 to 1902. He then read law at the University of Adelaide (LL.B., 1906) where he won a Stow prize. He then practised law with his father at Rudall & Rudall and in the firm G. & J. Downer. On 20 April 1907 he was admitted to the South Australian Bar.
RJ played football, cricket and tennis, and captained the Gawler Hockey Team.
In 1908 he was awarded a Rhodes scholarship. He read at Christ Church, Oxford (B.Litt., 1911) before returning to Rudall & Rudall Lawyers.
On 20 January 1914 he married Kathleen Clara Sutherland in the chapel of St Peter's College; they were to have two sons, John ('Jake') Glasgow (b.1920) and Peter Sutherland (b.1922).
Prepared by several years membership of a rifle club, and service in the King Edward's Horse at Oxford, RJ enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 11 August 1915 and was commissioned on 16 December. He trained in Egypt and England, and in December 1916 joined the 50th Battalion in France. In January 1917 he was detached to the headquarters of the 13th Brigade; next month he was promoted lieutenant. Sent to London in September 1918, he was appointed assistant-director in the newly formed A.I.F. Education Service. He took charge of the London office, as a captain from January 1919, until he embarked for Adelaide in May.
After his A.I.F. appointment terminated, RJ returned to Rudall & Rudall Lawyers and lectured in constitutional law at the University of Adelaide from 1920 to 1925. In July 1933 he stood as the Liberal and Country League's candidate for Barossa and was elected to the House of Assembly. As a back-bencher he was a fiscal conservative, but he supported the development of free public libraries in South Australia. RJ won the seat of Angas in March 1938.
(Sir) Thomas Playford became premier in November 1938 and RJ was immediately elevated to the cabinet. As commissioner of crown lands (1938-44), minister of lands (1944-46), minister of repatriation (1938-46) and minister of irrigation (1938-46), he was involved in the soldier-settlement scheme in a State that bore the scars of earlier unsuccessful efforts. His credentials as a returned soldier, and his open-minded and judicious approach, alleviated criticism when bureaucratic and financial problems with the Federal government and his own department delayed the selection and purchase of suitable land. He retained warm relations with returned servicemen and became a valuable legal adviser to the Returned Sailors', Soldiers' and Airmen's Imperial League of Australia.
RJ's life, however, was shattered by the deaths of his sons (Peter on the H.M.A.S. Sydney on 20 November 1941, and Jake at Buna, Papua, in December 1942).
RJ was elected as a member for Midland in 1944. He helped to steer through a recalcitrant Legislative Council bill to control the dividend rates and share issues of the virtually monopolistic Adelaide Electric Supply Co., to set up a royal commission into, and ultimately to nationalise, the company in the form of the Electricity Trust of South Australia. Invoking protection of the people against exploitation, he endeavoured to guarantee reliable and fairly priced electricity.
For the remainder of his career RJ served as attorney-general (from April 1946), minister of education (April 1946 to December 1953) and minister of industry and employment (from December 1953).
Survived by his wife, RJ died on New Year's Day 1955 in Calvary Hospital, North Adelaide; he was accorded a state funeral and was buried in the A.I.F. cemetery, West Terrace.
In 2007 the Town of Gawler recognised RJ as a Significant Identity.
External Links
References
Memories of Rudall Reginald John
Reg Rudall and local butcher, Tom Stanley, were both known to enjoy a drink at the Gawler Arms Hotel. On one occasion, Tom posed a ‘hypothetical’ that had legal implications. This was the gist of it.
‘If a customer’s dog came into my shop and pulled a string of sausages off the rack onto the sawdust floor, could I send a bill to the owner?’
Reg assured him that that would be a perfectly legal thing to do. A few days later, the Rudall household got a bill for four shillings and sixpence for the said sausages.
Two days later Tom Stanley got an account on ‘Rudall and Rudall’ letterhead that read. For professional advice: One guinea (A guinea was equivalent to 21 shillings.)
by David Kranz
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