1906 Surry Hills state by-election

1906 Surry Hills state by-election

←  1904 21 July 1906 1907  →
Electoral district of Surry Hills in the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales
Turnout	36.2% ( 20.8%)
First party Second party   LRP Candidate Albert Bruntnell Dick Meagher Party Liberal Reform Independent Popular vote 1,109 961 Percentage 30.5% 26.4% Swing 3.8% 26.4   Third party Fourth party   ALP Candidate Henry Lawton John Norton Party Labour Independent Popular vote 888 697 Percentage 24.4% 18.7% Swing 24.4 27.1%
MLA before election John Norton Independent Elected MLA Albert Bruntnell Liberal Reform

A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Surry Hills on 21 July 1906 because of the resignation of John Norton (Independent). Norton blamed William Holman for an article in The Worker commenting on Norton's unnatural silence over the land scandals involving Paddy Crick and William Willis. ^{[1] [2]} Norton made a personal attack on Holman in parliament, challenging him to resign and both would contest Holman's seat of Cootamundra. ^{[1] [3]}

Dates

Date	Event
5 July 1906	John Norton resigned. [4]
6 July 1906	Writ of election issued by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and close of electoral rolls. [5]
14 July 1906	Nominations
21 July 1906	Polling day
31 July 1906	Return of writ

Result

1906 Surry Hills state by-election ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Reform	Albert Bruntnell (elected)	1,109	30.5	−3.8
	Independent	Dick Meagher	961	26.4
	Labour	Henry Lawton	888	24.4
	Independent	John Norton (defeated)	679	18.7	−27.1
	Independent	James Jones	3	0.1
Total formal votes			3,640	98.9	+0.2
Informal votes			40	1.1	−0.2
Turnout			3,680	36.2  [a]	−20.8
	Liberal Reform gain from Independent		Swing

Aftermath

The Cootamundra by-election was held the following week, however Norton withdrew from the contest. H. V. Evatt argues that the most likely explanation for Norton's attack was to remove Labour's best debater at a critical time. ^{[3] [7]} Norton returned to parliament at the 1907 election for Darling Harbour. ^[8]

See also

• Electoral results for the district of Surry Hills
• List of New South Wales state by-elections

Notes

1. Estimate based on an electoral roll of 10,172 at the 1904 election. ^[6]

References

1. Cannon, Michael. "Norton, John (1858-1916)". Australian Dictionary of Biography . Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN   978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN   1833-7538. OCLC   70677943 . Retrieved 4 April 2021.
2. "The silence of John Norton". The Worker . 11 January 1906. p. 4. Retrieved 4 April 2021– via Trove.
   "Stand up, John Norton". The Worker . 22 February 1906. p. 4. Retrieved 4 April 2021– via Trove.
   "John Norton goes a-scabbing". The Worker . 17 March 1910. p. 12. Retrieved 4 April 2021– via Trove.
3. Green, Antony. "1906 Surry Hills by-election". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales . Retrieved 4 April 2021.
4. "Mr John Norton (1857-1916)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales . Retrieved 1 May 2019.
5. "Writ of election: Surry Hills". New South Wales Government Gazette . No. 189. 6 July 1906. p. 3895. Retrieved 4 April 2021– via Trove.
6. Green, Antony. "1904 Surry Hills". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales . Retrieved 18 December 2019.
7. Evatt, H. V. (1954). Australian Labour Leader: The Story of W.A. Holman and the Labour Movement. Angus and Robertson. pp. 131–144. ISBN   0207140413.
8. Green, Antony. "1907 Darling Harbour". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales . Retrieved 4 April 2021.