Bertram Stevens Article Index for
Bertram
Shopping
Bertram
Website Links For
Bertram
 

Information About

Bertram Stevens




An accountant by training, he worked for years in various civil service departments; and not till 1927 did he enter the Legislative Assembly, as member for the Sydney suburb of Croydon. During the Nationalist Party Premiership of Thomas Bavin , Stevens's rise was so rapid that the 1927-30 government was often called "the Bavin-Stevens Coalition". He served in Bavin's cabinet as Assistant Treasurer, and from 1929 as Treasurer.

Not long after the Great Depression ended Bavin's administration in 1930, Stevens became Deputy Leader of the Opposition. In 1932 the Nationalist Party was abolished in favour of the United Australia Party, and Stevens became that party's state parliamentary leader. He won the May 1932 state election, against the Labor incumbent Jack Lang , in a landslide.

For most of Stevens's seven-year Premiership, one of the longest in New South Wales history - it continued until the beginning of World War II - he was his own Treasurer. Alexander Mair took over as Premier once Stevens resigned. After the war, Stevens was president of the India League of Australia, and wrote prolifically upon Indian politics; but he never again held elective office.

  Title Premier Of New South Wales
  Before Jack Lang
  After Alexander Mair
  Years 1932 - 1939