1905 South Australian state election

Last updated

1905 South Australian state election
Flag of South Australia.svg
  1902 27 May 1905 (1905-05-27) 1906  

All 42 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly
22 seats needed for a majority
 First partySecond party
  Thomas Price.jpeg Sir Richard Butler (Australia).jpg
Leader Thomas Price Richard Butler
Party United Labor Ministerial
Leader since18991 March 1905
Leader's seat Torrens Barossa
Last election5 seats
Seats won15 seats2 seats
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 10
Percentage41.29%3.24%
SwingIncrease2.svg 22.21

Premier before election

Richard Butler
Australasian National League

Elected Premier

Thomas Price
United Labor

The 1905 South Australian state election was held on 27 May 1905. All 42 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent conservative government led by Premier of South Australia Richard Butler in an informal coalition with the liberals was defeated by the United Labor Party (ULP) led by Leader of the Opposition Thomas Price. Each of the 13 districts elected multiple members, with voters casting multiple votes. [1]

Contents

The first ministry formed after the 1902 election by John Jenkins, who resigned prior to the 1905 election. Richard Butler took the parliament into the 1905 election. Prior to the election, a new party formed. The rural stockowners and graziers were concerned at the concentration of the Australasian National League (ANL) on the metropolitan electorates and urban issues. In 1905, these interests formed the Farmers and Producers Political Union (FPPU), which had a conservative political agenda, and was absolutely opposed to franchise reform. It was essentially the rural wing of the ANL. There were four distinct blocs at the election, with the over-riding issue that of franchise reform for the Legislative Council: the ULP, a liberal group of franchise reformers led by Archibald Peake, the Butler moderate conservatives with some FPPU support, and an "extreme conservative" group led by John Darling at the core of the ANL. There was no "Liberal" party, but there was a relatively cohesive liberal group among both independent members and candidates. The Liberal and Democratic Union would not be formed until the 1906 election.

The ULP, on the fewest seats prior to the election, in just one election became the single largest party, increasing their primary vote to 41.3 (+22.2) percent and increasing their representation from five to 15 seats, winning 11 of the 12 city seats (four at the last election) from the three city multi-member electorates, Adelaide, Port Adelaide and Torrens, with a policy of development and progress, expansion of business and honest government: "they would not be frightened by the nonsense that had been talked about socialism". After the new lower house first met, the ULP forced the incumbent conservative Butler government to resign with the support of several disaffected non-ULP MPs, forming the Price-Peake administration minority government. Peake sought the alliance stating "the only difference between us is a difference of degree and of speed". It was the start of the first stable Labor government in the world. A year later at the 1906 election, the ULP would increase their primary vote to 44.8 (+3.5) percent and increase their representation from 15 to 20 seats, just two short of a parliamentary majority.

Results

House of Assembly (FPTP) (Non-CV) [2]
PartyVotes %SwingSeatsChange
  United Labor 148,55041.29+22.2115Increase2.svg 10
 Anti-Reform118,57132.9610
 Franchise Reform77,21121.4614
  Ministerial (Labor−Liberal) 11,6553.242
  Independent 3,7791.05−3.101
 Formal votes359,766
 Informal votes1,686
 Total361,45242
 Registered voters / turnout187,24261.19

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral district of Light</span>

Light is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. Light is named after Colonel William Light, who was the first Surveyor-General of South Australia. The electorate was created in 1857, abolished at the 1902 election and recreated at the 1938 election. It is based on the semi-rural township of Gawler, and stretches southwards into the outermost northern suburbs of Adelaide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archibald Peake</span>

Archibald Henry Peake was an Australian politician. He was Premier of South Australia on three occasions: from 1909 to 1910 for the Liberal and Democratic Union, and from 1912 to 1915 and 1917 to 1920 for its successor, the Liberal Union. He had also been Treasurer and Attorney-General in the Price-Peake coalition government from 1905 to 1909.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Price (South Australian politician)</span> Australian politician

Thomas Price served as the South Australian United Labor Party's first Premier of South Australia. He formed a minority government at the 1905 election and was re-elected with increased representation at the 1906 election, serving in the premiership until his death in 1909. It was the world's first stable Labor government. Shortly afterwards, John Verran led Labor to form the state's first of many majority governments at the 1910 election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1903 Australian federal election</span> Election for the 2nd Parliament of Australia

The 1903 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 16 December 1903. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Protectionist Party minority government led by Prime Minister Alfred Deakin retained the most House of Representatives seats of the three parties and retained government with the parliamentary support of the Labour Party led by Chris Watson. The Free Trade Party led by George Reid remained in opposition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1968 South Australian state election</span>

The 1968South AustralianState election was held in South Australia on 2 March 1968. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election; 38 of the 39 contests were won by candidates from Australia's two major political parties. The incumbent Labor Party South Australia led by Premier of South Australia Don Dunstan and the Liberal and Country League led by Leader of the Opposition Steele Hall) both won 19 seats. The sole independent candidate to win a race, Tom Stott of the Ridley electorate, joined with the LCL's 19 seats to form a coalition government that held a 20 to 19 majority, thus defeating the Dunstan Labor government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernest Roberts (Australian politician)</span> Australian politician and soldier (1868–1913)

Ernest Alfred Roberts was an Australian politician and soldier who was a Labor member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1896 to 1902 and 1905 to 1908 and then the Australian House of Representatives from 1908 to 1913. Roberts also served as an officer in South Africa during the Second Boer War, with South Australian colonial forces in 1900 and Commonwealth forces in 1902. From 1904 to 1908 he was the editor of The Herald, a left-wing newspaper published by the United Labor Party (ULP).

The Liberal and Democratic Union (LDU) was a South Australian political party formed by early liberals, as opposed to the conservatives. It was formed in 1906 when liberal party structures were becoming more solid. Its leader, Archibald Peake, stressed that the LDU represented 'something not so sharply set as Labourism, not so dull in its edge as conservatism'. But with Labor taking over the middle ground, Kingstonian liberals like Peake had to choose.

The Liberal Union was a political party in South Australia resulting from a merger between the Liberal and Democratic Union (LDU) and the two independent conservative parties, the Australasian National League and the Farmers and Producers Political Union (FPPU) as a response to Labor successes culminating in South Australia's first majority government at the 1910 election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1893 South Australian colonial election</span>

The 1893 South Australian colonial election was held on 15 April 1893 to elect all 54 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1896 South Australian colonial election</span>

The 1896 South Australian colonial election was held on 25 April 1896 to elect all 54 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly. In the seat of Northern Territory, the election was on 2 May. All 54 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent liberal government led by Premier of South Australia Charles Kingston in an informal coalition with the United Labor Party (ULP) led by John McPherson defeated the conservative opposition. Each district elected multiple members, with voters casting multiple votes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1899 South Australian colonial election</span>

The 1899 South Australian colonial election was held on 29 April 1899 to elect all 54 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly. In the seat of Albert, the incumbent members were elected unopposed on 12 April, and the election in the seat of Northern Territory was held on 6 May. All 54 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent liberal government led by Premier of South Australia Charles Kingston in an informal coalition United Labor Party (ULP) led by Lee Batchelor defeated the conservative opposition led by Leader of the Opposition John Downer. Each district elected multiple members, with voters casting multiple votes. Although the conservatives won more seats, the liberal government retained power until later that year, when new conservative leader Vaiben Louis Solomon forced the government to resign, but only held office for one week. The liberals held government until the next election through leaders Frederick Holder and John Jenkins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1902 South Australian state election</span>

The 1902 South Australian state election was held on 3 May 1902 following the dissolution of both houses. All 42 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election, and all 18 seats in the Legislative Council. The House had a reduction of 12 seats compared to the previous election. The Council was reduced from 6 members in each of four districts to 6 members from Central District and four from each of North-Eastern, Northern and Southern Districts. The incumbent liberal government led by Premier of South Australia John Jenkins in an informal coalition with the conservatives defeated the United Labor Party (ULP) led by Thomas Price. Each of the 13 districts elected multiple members, with voters casting multiple votes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1906 South Australian state election</span>

The 1906 South Australian state election was held on 3 November 1906 to elect all 42 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly. The seat of Northern Territory went to an election on 10 November.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1910 South Australian state election</span>

State elections were held in South Australia on 2 April 1910. All 42 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Democratic Union (LDU) government led by Premier of South Australia Archibald Peake was defeated by the United Labor Party (ULP) led by John Verran. Each of the 13 districts elected multiple members, with voters casting multiple votes. The Peake LDU minority government had replaced the Price ULP/LDU coalition government in June 1909. The 1910 election was the first to result in a South Australian majority government. This came two weeks after the election of a first majority in either house in the Parliament of Australia at the 1910 federal election, also for Labor. Though a South Australian majority was won, the ULP did not take office until after the new lower house first met.

Wallaroo is a defunct electoral district that elected members to the House of Assembly, the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It was established in 1875 and abolished in 1970.

East Adelaide was an electoral district of the South Australian Legislative Council from 1851 to 1857 and an electoral district of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1862 to 1902.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Price-Peake government</span>

The Price-Peake Government is the name given to the coalition government in South Australia between 1905 and 1909 when Labor leader Tom Price led the government as Premier of South Australia with the support of the Liberal and Democratic Union (LDU) leader Archibald Peake as Treasurer of South Australia and Attorney-General of South Australia. Despite neither leader having Ministerial experience, the government they led was popular and successful.

The Farmers and Producers Political Union (FPPU) was an independent conservative agrarian political party founded in South Australia in reaction to Labor, keen to fend off a perceived threat to the FPPU's interests against a rising labour movement and Labor. The rural stockowners and graziers were concerned at the concentration of the Australasian National League (ANL) on the metropolitan electorates and urban issues, leading to the formation of the FPPU which had a conservative political agenda, and was absolutely opposed to franchise reform. It was essentially the rural wing of the ANL. The FPPU was created in 1904 and lasted until after the 1910 election when it merged with the Liberal and Democratic Union and the National Defence League to become the Liberal Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Australian Labor Party</span> Political party in Australia

The South Australian Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch) and commonly referred to simply as South Australian Labor, is the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party, originally formed in 1891 as the United Labor Party of South Australia. It is one of two major parties in the bicameral Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Liberal Party of Australia (SA Division).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Australian Liberal Party</span> Political party in Australia

The South Australian Liberal Party, officially known as the Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division), and often shortened to SA Liberals, is the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia. It was formed as the Liberal and Country League (LCL) in 1932 and became the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party when the Liberal Party was formed in 1945. It retained its Liberal and Country League name before changing to its current name in 1974. It is one of two major parties in the bicameral Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Australian Labor Party (SA Branch). The party has been led by Leader of the Opposition David Speirs since the 2022 state election after a one-term government.

References

  1. "Statistical Record of the Legislature 1836-2007" (PDF). South Australian Parliament.
  2. "Election of 27 May 1905". The University of Western Australia.