Vaiben Louis Solomon
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The Right Honourable Vaiben Louis Solomon |
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| 21st Premier of South Australia | |
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In office 1 December 1899 – 8 December 1899 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Governor | Sir Thomas Buxton |
| Preceded by | Charles Kingston |
| Succeeded by | Frederick Holder |
| 13th Leader of the Opposition (SA) | |
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In office 1899–1899 |
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| Preceded by | John Downer |
| Succeeded by | Frederick Holder |
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In office 1899–1901 |
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| Preceded by | Frederick Holder |
| Succeeded by | Robert Homburg |
| Member of the Australian Parliament for South Australia |
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In office 30 March 1901 – 16 December 1903 Serving with Lee Batchelor, Langdon Bonython, Paddy Glynn, Frederick Holder, Charles Kingston, Alexander Poynton |
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| Preceded by | New seat |
| Succeeded by | Division abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
13 May 1853 Adelaide, South Australia |
| Died | 20 October 1908 (aged 55) |
| Political party |
Conservatives Free Trade (1901–03) |
| Religion | Judaism |
Vaiben Louis Solomon (13 May 1853 – 20 October 1908) was the 21st Premier of South Australia and a member of the first Australian Commonwealth parliament. He was generally known by his full name (perhaps to distinguish him from his uncle, Vaiben Solomon (1802 – 21 June 1860), who was transported with his brother Emanuel Solomon to New South Wales in 1818 for larceny and became a wealthy pastoralist of Horningsea Park). He was a nephew of Judah Moss Solomon.
Solomon was born in Adelaide, South Australia, the son of Judah Moss Solomon, a member of the South Australian Legislative Council and Lord Mayor of Adelaide from 1869 to 1870. His education began at J. L. Young's Adelaide Educational Institution, and continued at Scotch College, Melbourne. He then returned to Adelaide, where he joined the firm of Donaldson, Andrews and Sharland, who promptly sent him to Kapunda, where he developed a taste for amateur theatricals. He returned to Adelaide, where he worked at the Stock Exchange. Vaiben wished to marry Mary Ann Wigzell (c. June 1856 – 7 January 1885), a Gentile, but his father forbade the marriage, going so far as to publish a notice to that effect. In 1873 Solomon left for (perhaps sent by his father) the Northern Territory, where he became editor of the Northern Territory Times as well as holding successful mining and mercantile holdings. He helped run his brother Moss's Darwin store, then left to open his own, "Solomon's Emporium", which flourished while his brother's languished. He became an auctioneer in 1877, and had a business partnership with Frederick Percy Stevens and Herbert Henry Adcock in 1878. On 6 December 1880, three months after his father's death, Solomon married Wigzell, who was by then Mary Ann Bridgland, a widow with a young son; she died a little over four years later, having in the meantime had a daughter by Vaiben. Her two children were taken to Adelaide to be cared for by relatives. He became a prominent figure in the Northern Territory, where he gained the nickname "Black Solomon" from the time when, on a dare, he painted himself black and walked naked (streaked?) through the streets of Palmerston (now known as Darwin). He had helped found Palmerston's first municipal council in 1874 and was later served as Chairman. He founded a building company and became quite prosperous, building for himself a residence on The Esplanade that was perhaps the grandest in the town.
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