Tom Price: From Stonecutter to Premier

How is it possible that an impoverished Welsh stonecutter could rise to the position of the first Labor Premier of South Australia? Born to an alcoholic father and an illiterate mother, Tom Price would overcome the daunting obstacles of the slums of Liverpool, become an apprentice at the age of nine, discover the value of education and, against the odds, marry the woman he loved. Immigrating to South Australia to seek remedy from stonecutters’ lung disease, Tom and his family possessed nothing but a chest of belongings and determination to somehow make the world a happier place for working men and women. Within three decades Tom as master mason would carve the columns of Parliament House before entering its chambers as a politician, feared by the conservatives and loved by the people.