1920 New South Wales state election

1920 New South Wales state election

←  1917 20 March 1920 (1920-03-20) 1922  →
All 90 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 46 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader John Storey William Holman Party Labor Nationalist Leader since February 1917 15 November 1916 Leader's seat Balmain Cootamundra (lost seat) Last election 33 seats 52 seats Seats won 43 28 Seat change 10 24 Primary  vote 252,371 175,280 Percentage 43.08% 29.92% Swing 0.45 17.52   Third party Fourth party   Leader George Beeby Ernie Judd [1] Party Progressive Socialist Labor Leader since 1920 1920 Leader's seat Murray None (contested Sydney) Last election Did not exist 0 seats Seats won 15 1 Seat change 15 1 Primary  vote 88,557 6,143 Percentage 15.12% 1.05% Swing 15.12 0.99
Results of the election
Premier before election William Holman Nationalist Subsequent Premier John Storey Labor

The 1920 New South Wales state election was held on 20 March 1920. The 24th parliament of New South Wales was dissolved on 18 February 1920 by the Governor, Sir Walter Edward Davidson, on the advice of the Premier William Holman. The election was for all of the 90 seats in the 25th New South Wales Legislative Assembly, and it was the first to be conducted with multi-member electorates, using the Hare-Clark single transferable vote system.

It was conducted using 24 districts, 15 having 3 members and nine having five members.

Key dates

Date	Event
18 February 1920	The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
28 February 1920	Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
20 March 1920	Polling day.
12 April 1920	Storey ministry sworn in
21 April 1920	Writs returned.
27 April 1920	Opening of 25th Parliament.

Results

See also: Results of the 1920 New South Wales state election

The assembly was evenly divided, with Labor having 43 seats and the support of Percy Brookfield (Socialist Labor) and Arthur Gardiner (Independent Labor), while the Nationalists had 28 seats and the support of 15 seats of the Progressive Party and 2 independent Nationalists. ^{[2] [3] [4]} The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly did not vote unless there was a tie which meant whichever side provided the speaker was unable to command a majority. Nationalist Daniel Levy controversially accepted re-election as speaker, giving Labor an effective majority. ^{[5] [6]}

Compared to previous election held using majority-runoff, two new parties had representation in the chamber - Progressive and Socialist Labor. ^[7]

1920 New South Wales state election  [2] Legislative Assembly << 1917–1922 >>
Enrolled voters		1,154,437
Votes cast		648,709		Turnout	56.19	−5.24
Informal votes		62,900		Informal	9.70	+8.68
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	252,371	43.08	+0.45	43	+10
	Nationalist	175,280	29.92	−17.52	28	−24
	Progressive	88,557	15.12	+15.12	15	+15
	Independent   [a]	28,410	4.85	−2.55	1	–3
	Democratic	14,026	2.39	+2.39	0
	Soldiers & Citizens	10,055	1.72	+1.72	0
	Ind. Nationalist	9,357	1.60	–0.87	2	+1
	Socialist Labor	6,143	1.05	+0.99	1	+1
	Women's	1,610	0.27	+0.27	0
Total		585,809			90

Results of 1920

Popular vote Labor   43.08% Nationalist   29.92% Progressive   15.12% Independent   4.83% Ind. Nationalist   1.60% Socialist Labor   1.06% Others   4.39% Parliamentary seats Labor   43 Nationalist   28 Progressive   15 Ind. Nationalist   2 Independent   1 Socialist Labor   1

Changing seats

1917 election					1920 election
Old Electorate	Member	Party		Note	New Electorate	New Member	Party
Darling Harbour	John Cochran		Labor	Retired	Balmain
Glebe	Tom Keegan			Defeated
Leichhardt	Campbell Carmichael		Labor / Soldiers & Citizens	Defeated		Albert Smith	Nationalist
Lyndhurst	Claude Bushell		Labor	Retired	Bathurst
Enmore	David Hall		Nationalist	Appointed an MLC	Botany	John Lee	Nationalist
Byron	John Perry			Retired	Byron	Tom Swiney	Labor
Clarence	William Zuill			Defeated		Stephen Perdriau	Progressive
Cootamundra	William Holman			Defeated	Cootamundra	Hugh Main
Camden	John Hunt			Retired	Cumberland	Ernest Carr	Nationalist
Hawkesbury	Bruce Walker		Independent	Changed party		Bruce Walker
						Voltaire Molesworth	Labor
Bondi	James MacArthur-Onslow		Nationalist	Changed party	Eastern Suburbs	James MacArthur-Onslow	Progressive
Randwick	David Storey			Appointed an MLC		Harold Jaques	Nationalist
						James Fingleton	Labor
Woollahra	William Latimer		Nationalist	Appointed an MLC		Bob O'Halloran
Bega	William Millard			Defeated	Goulburn	Thomas Rutledge	Progressive
Durham	Walter Bennett		Independent	Changed party	Maitland	Walter Bennett
Maitland	Charles Nicholson		Nationalist	Defeated		Walter O'Hearn	Labor
Singleton	James Fallick			Retired
Albury	Arthur Manning			Defeated	Murray	Matthew Kilpatrick	Progressive
Wagga Wagga	George Beeby			Changed party		George Beeby
Lachlan	Ernest Buttenshaw			Changed party	Murrumbidgee	Ernest Buttenshaw
Macquarie	Patrick McGirr		Labor	Defeated		Martin Flannery	Labor
Murrumbidgee	Patrick McGarry		Nationalist	Defeated
Gwydir	John Crane			Defeated	Namoi	Patrick Scully	Labor
Namoi	Walter Wearne		Ind. Nationalist	Changed party		Walter Wearne	Progressive
Kahibah	Alfred Edden		Nationalist	Retired	Newcastle	Hugh Connell	Labor
Wickham	William Grahame			Defeated  [b]		John Fegan	Nationalist
Mosman	Percy Colquhoun			Defeated	North Shore	Alfred Reid	Ind. Nationalist
						Cecil Murphy	Labor
Armidale	Herbert Lane		Nationalist	Defeated	Northern Tableland	David Drummond	Progressive
Bingara	George McDonald			Appointed an MLC		Alfred McClelland	Labor
Gough	Follett Thomas			Defeated  [c]
Tenterfield	Charles Lee			Retired		Michael Bruxner	Progressive
Gloucester	Richard Price		Independent	Changed party	Oxley	Richard Price
Hastings and Macleay	Henry Morton		Nationalist	Defeated		Joseph Fitzgerald	Labor
Raleigh	George Briner			Changed party		George Briner	Progressive
					Parramatta	Bill Ely	Labor
Drummoyne	Alexander Graff		Nationalist / Independent	Retired	Ryde	Edward Loxton	Ind. Nationalist
Gordon	Thomas Bavin		Nationalist	Changed party		Thomas Bavin	Progressive
Ryde	William Thompson			Retired		David Anderson	Nationalist
						Robert Greig	Labor
					St George	Mark Gosling
Sturt	Percy Brookfield		Labor / Independent		Sturt	Percy Brookfield	Socialist Labor
Willyama	Jabez Wright		Labor	Defeated
King	Tom Smith			Defeated	Sydney	Patrick Minahan	Labor   [d]
Ashfield	William Robson		Nationalist	Appointed an MLC	Western Suburbs	Edward McTiernan	Labor
						James Wilson	Progressive
Allowrie	Mark Morton		Nationalist	Defeated	Wollondilly	John Cleary	Labor

See also

• Candidates of the 1920 New South Wales state election
• Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, 1920–1922

Notes

1. Includes Independent Labor.
2. Stood as an Ind. Nationalist
3. Stood as a Progressive candidate
4. Patrick Minahan was nominated by the Labor Party, however his endorsement was withdrawn before the polling day because he signed a pledge for the unconditional release of twelve imprisoned members of the Industrial Workers of the World. ^[8]

References

1. "Socialist Branches". Sunday Times. 25 January 1920. p. 2. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
2. Green, Antony. "1920 election totals". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales . Retrieved 10 October 2021.
3. "Part 5B alphabetical list of all electorates and Members since 1856" (PDF). NSW Parliamentary Record. Parliament of New South Wales . Retrieved 20 April 2020.
4. "Former members of the New South Wales Parliament, 1856–2006". New South Wales Parliament. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
5. Fredman, L E. "Levy, Sir Daniel (1872–1937)". Australian Dictionary of Biography . Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN   978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN   1833-7538. OCLC   70677943 . Retrieved 10 May 2020.
6. Fitzpatrick, John (27 April 1920). "Election of speaker" (PDF). Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . New South Wales: Legislative Assembly. pp. 18–33. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
7. Farrell and McAllister. The Australian Electoral System. p. 50.
8. "The ALP: definite action taken against candidates who sign pledges". The Sydney Morning Herald . 10 March 1920. p. 11. Retrieved 2 November 2019– via National Library of Australia.