1921 Victorian state election

1921 Victorian state election
all 65 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly
Premier before election; Harry Lawson ; Nationalist	Elected Premier ; Harry Lawson ; Nationalist

Last updated April 28, 2022

The 1921 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on Tuesday 30 August 1921 to elect the 65 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.^[1]

Background

The trigger for the 1921 Victorian election was a dissolution of parliament caused by the Victorian Farmers' Union voting with Labor to defeat Harry Lawson's minority Nationalist government after Lawson, who was also the agriculture minister, had abolished the compulsory wheat pool operating in the state.

Results

Legislative Assembly

1921 Victorian state election^[1]^[2] Legislative Assembly << 1920–1924 >>
Enrolled voters		569,704
Votes cast		326,227		Turnout	57.26	−6.44
Informal votes		2,555		Informal	0.78	−3.61
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Nationalist	147,569	45.59	−2.36	31	+1
	Labor	115,432	34.87	+6.38	21	+1
	Victorian Farmers	45,348	14.01	−0.40	12	−1
	Independent	15,323	4.73	−1.52	1	0
Total		323,672			65

Notes:

Nineteen seats were uncontested at this election, and were retained by the incumbent parties:
- Nationalist (11): Benambra, Boroondara, Brighton, Bulla, Dalhousie, Gippsland West, Hawthorn, Ovens, Toorak, Walhalla, Waranga
- Labor (7): Abbotsford, Carlton, Melbourne, North Melbourne, Port Melbourne, Richmond, Williamstown
- Victorian Farmers' Union (1): Wangaratta

Outcome

Related Research Articles

John Cain (34th Premier of Victoria) Australian politician

John Cain was an Australian politician, who became the 34th premier of Victoria, and was the first Labor Party leader to win a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. He is the only premier of Victoria to date whose son has also served as premier.

William Arthur Holman was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1913 to 1920. He came to office as the leader of the Labor Party, but was expelled from the party in the split of 1916. He subsequently became the inaugural leader of the NSW branch of the Nationalist Party.

Alexander Peacock Australian politician, 20th Premier of Victoria

Sir Alexander James Peacock was an Australian politician who served as the 20th Premier of Victoria.

Sir John Bowser, Australian politician, was the 26th Premier of Victoria. He was born in London, the son of an army officer, and arrived in Melbourne as a child with his family. He grew up at Bacchus Marsh and when he left school got a job with the Bacchus Marsh Express. As a young man he went to Scotland and worked on newspapers while studying at Edinburgh University. Returning to Australia, he settled in Wangaratta, where he farmed and managed the Wangaratta Chronicle, which he eventually bought.

Harry Lawson (politician) Australian politician

Sir Harry Sutherland Wightman Lawson KCMG, was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Victoria from 1918 to 1924. He later entered federal politics, serving as a Senator for Victoria (1929–1935) and briefly as a minister in the Lyons Government. He was a member of the Nationalist Party until 1931, when it was replaced with the United Australia Party.

George Prendergast Australian politician

George Michael "Mick" Prendergast was an Australian politician who served as the 28th Premier of Victoria. He was born to Irish emigrant parents in Adelaide, but he grew up in Stawell, Victoria. He was apprenticed as a printer, and worked as a compositor in Ballarat, Sydney and Narrandera before settling in Melbourne in 1887. A member of the Typographical Association, he represented that union at the Melbourne Trades Hall, of which he was President in 1893.

John Allan (Australian politician) Australian politician

John Allan was an Australian politician who served as the 29th Premier of Victoria. He was born near Lancefield, where his father was a farmer of Scottish origin, and educated at state schools. He took up wheat and dairy farming at Wyuna and was director of a butter factory at Kyabram. In 1892 he married Annie Stewart, with whom he had six children.

Edmond John "Ned" Hogan was an Australian politician who was the 30th Premier of Victoria. He was born in Wallace, Victoria, where his Irish-born parents were small farmers. After attending a Roman Catholic primary school, he became a farm worker and then a timber worker, and spent some time on the goldfields of Western Australia.

Sir Stanley Seymour Argyle KBE, MRCS, LRCP, was an Australian doctor, radiologist, businessman, and politician. Argyle was the former Leader of the Opposition, Treasurer and Premier of Victoria, achieving the latter in May 1932, following the 1932 Victorian state election.

Sir William Murray McPherson, KBE was an Australian philanthropist and politician. He was the 31st Premier of Victoria.

The 1919 Australian federal election was held on 13 December 1919 to elect members to the Parliament of Australia. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist Party government won re-election, with Prime Minister Billy Hughes continuing in office.

The Victorian Farmers' Union (VFU) was an association of farmers and primary producers formed in 1914 in the Australian state of Victoria. Although initially formed as an "absolutely non-political" entity, the VFU became a political party in 1916, and nominated candidates for the 1917 state election and subsequent elections. In later years it used the names Victorian Country Party, then United Country Party and is now the National Party of Australia – Victoria. At the 1917 election, because the support for the VFU was concentrated in rural seats, it won four of the 11 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly it contested, gaining about 6% of the vote state-wide. In 1918 it also won its first seat in the federal parliament, after preferential voting was introduced. At the 1920 state election the VFU vote increased to 8% and the number of seats to 13, giving the VFU the balance of power in the state Legislative Assembly.

Thomas Tunnecliffe was an Australian politician. Representing the Australian Labor Party, he was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the electorates of West Melbourne (1903–1904), Eaglehawk (1907–1920) and Collingwood (1921–1947).

The 1932 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday 14 May 1932 to elect 44 of the 65 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The other 21 seats were uncontested.

The 1929 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday 30 November 1929 to elect the 65 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.

The 1927 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday, 9 April 1927, to elect the 65 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.

The 1924 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on Thursday 26 June 1924 to elect the 65 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.

The 1920 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on Thursday 21 October 1920 to elect the 65 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.

The 1917 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on Thursday 15 November 1917 for the state's Legislative Assembly. 51 of the 65 Legislative Assembly seats were contested.

The Australian Labor Party , commonly known as Victorian Labor, is the semi-autonomous Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The Victorian branch comprises two major wings: the parliamentary wing and the organisational wing. The parliamentary wing comprising all elected party members in the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, which when they meet collectively constitute the party caucus. The parliamentary leader is elected from and by the caucus, and party factions have a strong influence in the election of the leader. The leader's position is dependent on the continuing support of the caucus and the leader may be deposed by failing to win a vote of confidence of parliamentary members. By convention, the premier sits in the Legislative Assembly, and is the leader of the party controlling a majority in that house. The party leader also typically is a member of the Assembly, though this is not a strict party constitutional requirement.

References

1 2 Colin A Hughes, A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1890-1964, Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1968 ( ISBN 0708102700).
↑ Election held on 30 August 1921, Australian Politics and Elections Database (University of Western Australia).

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[handbook-1] 1 2 Colin A Hughes, A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1890-1964, Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1968 ( ISBN 0708102700).

[2] Election held on 30 August 1921, Australian Politics and Elections Database (University of Western Australia).

[1]

[2]

v t e Elections and referendums in Victoria
General elections	1856 1859 1861 1864 1866 1868 1871 1874 1877 1880 (Feb) 1880 (Jul) 1883 1886 1889 1892 1894 1897 1900 1902 1904 1907 1908 1911 1914 1917 1920 1921 1924 1927 1929 1932 1935 1937 1940 1943 1945 1947 1950 1952 1955 1958 1961 1964 1967 1970 1973 1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1992 1996 1999 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 by-elections
Upper house-only elections	1851 1856 1858 1860 1862 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1889 1890 1892 1894 1895 1896 1898 1900 1901 1902 1904 1907 1910 1913 1916 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1940 1943 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958
Referendums	1898 1899
Aboriginal	2019