Archie Galbraith Cameron (22 March 18959 August 1956) was an Australian politician. He was a government minister under Joseph Lyons and Robert Menzies, leader of the Country Party from 1939 to 1940, and finally Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1950 until his death.
Cameron was born in Happy Valley, South Australia. After serving in World War I, he took up a farm near Loxton as a soldier settler. He was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly in 1927, and to the House of Representatives at the 1934 federal election. Cameron was Postmaster-General in the Lyons government from 1938 to 1939. He replaced Earle Page as leader of the Country Party in September 1939, and in March 1940 led the party back into coalition with the United Australia Party (UAP), which Page had broken off. Cameron was de facto deputy prime minister under Menzies, as well as Minister for Commerce and Minister for the Navy. However, he was deposed as Country Party leader in October 1940, subsequently defecting to the UAP (and later joining the new Liberal Party). Cameron's last appointment was as Speaker, where he was highly respected. He was known throughout his political career for his eccentric manner and strong personality.
Early life
Cameron was born on 22 March 1895 in Happy Valley, South Australia, the son of Mary Ann (née McDonald) and John Cameron. His parents were both immigrants from Scotland.
Cameron attended the state school at Nairne until the age of twelve. After leaving school he worked as a labourer, including on his father's farm near Loxton. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in April 1916, as a private in the 27th Battalion. He was later appointed as a warrant officer and held the temporary rank of regimental quartermaster sergeant, serving on the Western Front in France and Belgium. His exposure to poison gas during the war caused him heart and lung problems in later life. He reportedly became a fluent German speaker through his association with Barossa Germans.
State politics
Cameron served on the Loxton District Council from 1920 to 1927.
Cameron was elected state leader of the Country Party in 1928. Prior to the 1931 federal election he was involved in the formation of the Emergency Committee of South Australia as a united anti-Labor party. In 1932 he led his party into a merger with the Liberal Federation to form the Liberal and Country League. The Country Party's terms were stiff; among them, Cameron sought to transfer to federal politics, and wanted a safe seat in which to run at the next election. Accordingly, Cameron resigned from state parliament in 1934 in order to run in that year's federal election.
Cameron did not have long to wait for ministerial preferment; in 1937 he was appointed an assistant minister in the government of Joseph Lyons. In November 1937, Cameron stood for the deputy leadership of the Country Party following the retirement of Thomas Paterson; he did not win enough votes to make the second ballot. He briefly served as acting minister for commerce in 1938, and during that time became the first minister to be "named" by the Speaker. Later that year, he became Postmaster-General. He temporarily suspended radio 2KY's licence because he objected to political views expressed on it (2KY was the property of the ALP's New South Wales branch).
In March 1940, Cameron took the Country Party back into the coalition government under Menzies, becoming the de facto deputy prime minister as well as Minister for Commerce and Minister for the Navy. The Country Party lost three seats to Labor 1940 election, costing the Coalition its majority. Country Party MPs tired of Cameron's domineering style, and removed him as leader. Arthur Fadden was chosen as interim leader and after Page and McEwen deadlocked on three ballots. Cameron then immediately resigned from the ministry, and from the Country Party: he joined Menzies's party, the United Australia Party. Cameron argued that enemy aliens "enjoy no rights whatever" during war-time and were a "danger to the nation" unless proven otherwise, with the appeals tribunals placing the government "in the hopelessly ridiculous position of appearing before a tribunal to defend its own actions". His motion was not put to a vote as no other MP was willing to second it, but in response Spender defended his actions and stated Cameron's intent was to "indulge his peculiar megalomania in order to get some notoriety out of his action".
Speaker of the House, 1950–1956
thumb|upright|Cameron in 1950
Cameron was elected Speaker of the House following the Coalition's victory at the 1949 election. He was nominated by Menzies for the post despite "disquiet from members" and a warning from parliamentary clerk Frank Clifton Green that he was the "worst possible choice". Cameron's health never recovered from his World War I gassing, and in August 1955 he contracted influenza. Despite this, he fought that year's election and was handily reelected. He died of a heart attack in August in Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney.