John Tonkin

The Honourable John Tonkin AC


20th Premier of Western Australia
In office 3 March 1971 – 8 April 1974
Governor	Sir Douglas Kendrew (1971–74) Sir Hughie Edwards (1974)
Preceded by	Sir David Brand
Succeeded by	Sir Charles Court
Constituency	North-East Fremantle (1933–1950) Melville (1950–1977)
Personal details
Born	2 February 1902 Boulder, Western Australia
Died	20 October 1995 (aged 93) Perth, Western Australia
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Labor
Spouse(s)	Rosalie Cleghorn (m. 1926) Joan West (m. 1971)

John Trezise Tonkin AC (2 February 1902 – 20 October 1995), popularly known as "Honest John", was an Australian politician. A member of the Australian Labor Party, he served as a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for a record 44 years from 1933 to 1977, and was the 20th Premier of Western Australia, serving from the 1971 election, where his party defeated the ruling Liberal–Country coalition led by David Brand, to the 1974 election, where the Labor Party was defeated by the Liberal–Country coalition led by Charles Court. A number of landmarks were later named or renamed after him, including the Tonkin Highway and John Tonkin College in Mandurah.

Tonkin was born in Boulder, Western Australia, on 2 February 1902. Of Cornish descent, he attended Boulder City Central School and Eastern Goldfields High School, and began working as a schoolteacher, teaching in several schools in country Western Australia. By 1923, he was teaching at Forest Grove, near Witchcliffe in the South West, where he established a branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He married Rosalie Cleghorn on 29 December 1926 at St. Mary's Church in West Perth.