James Desmond Corcoran AO (8 November 1928 – 3 January 2004) was an Australian politician who served as the 37th premier of South Australia between February and September 1979, following the resignation of Don Dunstan.

Born at Millicent in the southeast of the state, he served in the Australian Army in the Korean War and Malayan Emergency, reaching the rank of captain, and being twice mentioned in despatches.

At the 1970 state election, Labor returned to the government benches, and Corcoran regained his position as deputy premier, and took up the marine and works ministries.

After Dunstan's resignation, Corcoran became premier and decided to call an early election to gain a personal mandate, buoyed by polling.

This proved unwise, as the campaign went badly, business groups and media openly supported the opposition Liberal Party, and Labor lost office.

[2] Jim had served as a corporal in the 27th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force on the Western Front during World War I, and had been wounded during the Battle of Amiens in August 1918.

[11] Des was allocated the service number 23934, and allotted as an infantry soldier and posted to the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1 RAR).

Its duties included general patrolling along the Jamestown Line, a series of static defensive positions just north of the 38th Parallel (38°N) along which the earlier mobile war had settled into trench warfare.

Its main tasks were securing defences, repairing minefield fences, and conducting reconnaissance of enemy positions to gather information.

[5][24] In his first speech in the house, on 24 July 1962, his father was present in the gallery, and he attributed his successful election to James Corcoran's "able and honest representation"[25] of the people of the seat of Millicent.

These included: ensuring that country South Australians had the same access to services as those who lived in Adelaide, especially in areas such as utilities and education; and the promotion of the agriculture, fishing and forestry industries in the southeast of the state.

[26] This saw the ALP develop policy and campaign hard on education, health and working conditions, and against racial discrimination and the malapportionment of electoral districts in the state, known as the Playmander.

His party colleagues resisted this, and ultimately the ALP state council passed a congratulatory motion that included thanking him for "selflessly stepping down so that a new leader could establish himself before the next election".

[30] Coinciding with Walsh's retirement, there was an ALP leadership ballot which included Corcoran, Dunstan, Gabe Bywaters and Cyril Hutchens.

[30] On 26 March 1968, Corcoran became the first officially-appointed deputy premier – the position having been informal up to that point – and gained the tourism portfolio, which was combined with immigration.

[42] A devout Catholic and man of high personal morals, Corcoran privately opposed many of the social reforms Dunstan was implementing, such as liberalised abortion and homosexuality laws.

Believing this made Millicent unwinnable, Corcoran transferred to the eastern Adelaide seat of Coles, previously held by Labor by the retiring Len King, for the 12 July 1975 state election.

[46] When this margin was erased in another redistribution, Corcoran transferred to the newly created and nearby northeastern Adelaide district of Hartley, receiving 58.8 per cent of the TPP at the 17 September 1977 state election, with Coles falling to Jennifer Adamson of the Liberal Party (the renamed LCL).

[26] The election campaign was plagued by problems; business groups and the state's main afternoon tabloid newspaper, The News, openly sided with the Liberal Party.

[54] Dunstan was angry with Corcoran, feeling that he had wasted a full year of the term they had won in 1977, and had not continued to pursue Aboriginal land rights and industrial democracy.

[5][42] Upon his death, Rann, by then premier himself, described the strong and historic political partnership between Dunstan and Corcoran as "very successful", despite the two being "chalk and cheese".

Then opposition leader Dean Brown, who had himself served as premier between 1993 and 1996, stated that Corcoran was "approachable and enjoyed a good yarn and joke", and recalled that "his word could always be trusted and all members of the Parliament held him in very high esteem".

[42] Corcoran was farewelled with a state funeral held at St Francis Xavier's Cathedral, Adelaide, on 8 January,[60] and was buried at North Brighton Cemetery.