Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1901–1904

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This is a list of members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly between the 1901 election and the 1904 election, together known as the Fourth Parliament.

The names of parliamentary groupings, which were not formalised parties, were established prior to the 1901 election, with Ministerialists being those sympathetic to former Premier John Forrest, and Oppositionists and Independents defined accordingly. With the exit of Forrest from state politics following his successful shift to the federal Division of Swan, the Ministerial group was defeated in the election and had no obvious choice of leader, but the Opposition, led by George Leake, did not have sufficient numbers to govern in its own right. The failure of the Morgans Ministry in December 1901 after less than a month in office and the unprecedented defeat of three of its Ministers in ministerial by-elections allowed an Opposition-led government with Labour support to govern until the 1904 election with a reasonable level of stability. Therefore, the "Opposition" were in government and the "Ministerial" group was in opposition for most of the period. Bolton and Mozley (1961) introduce the terminology "Forrest party" and "Leake party", but these were not used by either the press or the groupings themselves.

NameParty District Years in office
William Atkins [10] Independent Murray 1902–1904
Thomas Bath [11] Labour Hannans 1902–1914
R. G. Burges [14] Ministerial York 1903–1905
William Butcher Independent Gascoyne 1901–1911; 1915–1917
Francis Connor Independent East Kimberley 1893–1905
Henry Daglish Labour Subiaco 1901–1911
Arthur Diamond Independent South Fremantle 1901–1906
Denis Doherty [15] Ministerial North Fremantle 1897–1903
John Ewing Ministerial/Opposition [4] South West Mining 1901–1904; 1905–1908
John Ferguson [15] Opposition North Fremantle 1903–1904
Alexander Forrest [2] Ministerial West Kimberley 1890–1901
John Foulkes [7] Ministerial Claremont 1902–1911
Hon James Gardiner [9] Opposition Albany 1901–1904; 1914–1921
William James George [10] Opposition Murray 1895–1902; 1909–1930
William Gordon Ministerial South Perth 1901–1911
Hon Henry Gregory [1] [6] Opposition Menzies 1897–1911
Charles Harper Ministerial/Opposition [4] Beverley 1890–1905
Albert Hassell Opposition Plantagenet 1890–1904
Robert Hastie Labour Kanowna 1901–1905
Thomas Hayward Ministerial Bunbury 1901–1911
John Sydney Hicks Independent Roebourne 1901–1908
John Higham Ministerial Fremantle 1896–1904
John Holman [5] Labour North Murchison 1901–1921; 1923–1925
Hon Joseph Holmes [1] Opposition East Fremantle 1897–1904; 1905–1906
Hon John Marquis Hopkins [12] Opposition Boulder 1901–1905; 1908–1910
Robert Hutchinson Opposition Geraldton 1900–1904
Hon Frederick Illingworth [1] [6] Opposition Cue 1894–1904
James Isdell [13] Independent Pilbara 1903–1906
Mathieson Jacoby Opposition Swan 1901–1905; 1908–1911
Hon Walter James [9] Opposition East Perth 1894–1904
William Johnson Labour Kalgoorlie 1901–1905; 1906–1917;
1924–1948
Hon Walter Kingsmill [1] [6] [13] Opposition Pilbara 1897–1903
Hon George Leake [1] [6] [8] Opposition West Perth 1890; 1894–1900; 1901–1902
Hon James George Lee-Steere [16] Ministerial Nelson 1890–1903
Francis McDonald Opposition Cockburn Sound 1901–1904
George McWilliams [3] Opposition North Perth 1901–1904
Frederick Monger [14] Ministerial York 1892–1903; 1905–1914
Frederick Moorhead [5] Ministerial North Murchison 1899–1901
Charles Moran [8] Independent West Perth 1894–1901; 1902–1905
Alf Morgans [5] Ministerial Coolgardie 1897–1904
John Nanson [5] Ministerial Murchison 1901–1905; 1908–1914
William Oats Independent Yilgarn 1897–1904
Michael O'Connor Ministerial Moore 1901–1904
Samuel J. Phillips Ministerial Irwin 1890–1904
Hon Frederick Henry Piesse Ministerial Williams 1890–1909
Sydney Pigott [2] Ministerial West Kimberley 1901–1904
William Purkiss [5] Ministerial Perth 1901–1904
Timothy Quinlan [5] Ministerial Toodyay 1890–1894; 1897–1911
Hon Cornthwaite Rason [6] Ministerial/Opposition [4] Guildford 1897–1906
Fergie Reid Labour Mount Burges 1901–1904
John Reside [11] Labor Hannans 1901–1902
William Sayer [7] Ministerial Claremont 1901–1902
Henry Teesdale Smith Ministerial Wellington 1901–1904
Richard Speight [3] Opposition North Perth 1901
Patrick Stone Independent Greenough 1901–1904; 1905–1908
George Taylor Labour Mount Margaret 1901–1930
Albert Thomas Independent Dundas 1901–1905
Hon George Throssell Ministerial Northam 1890–1904
Frank Wallace [17] Ind / Opposition Mt Magnet 1897–1904
John Walter [16] Ministerial Nelson 1903–1904
Frank Wilson [5] Opposition Perth 1897–1901; 1904–1917
Henry Yelverton Ministerial Sussex 1901–1904

Notes

1 Following the failure of the Throssell Ministry on 27 May 1901, a new six-member Ministry comprising Opposition members led by George Leake was formed. These members were therefore required to resign and contest ministerial by-elections. On 19 June 1901, all of them were returned unopposed.
2 On 20 June 1901, the Ministerial member for West Kimberley, Alexander Forrest, died. At the resulting by-election on 23 July 1901, Ministerial candidate Sydney Pigott was elected to fill the vacancy.
3 On 19 September 1901, the Opposition member for North Perth, Richard Speight, died. At the resulting by-election on 5 October 1901, Opposition candidate George McWilliams was elected to fill the vacancy.
4 In mid-December 1901, Cornthwaite Rason, Charles Harper and John Ewing switched allegiance from the Morgans Ministry to the supporters of Leake. (p.2234, Hansard)
5 The Leake Ministry, following a want of confidence motion moved on 31 October 1901 and passed on 9 November 1901, was replaced on 21 November by a new six-member Ministry comprising mostly Ministerial members led by Alf Morgans. These members were therefore required to resign and contest ministerial by-elections. According to Brian de Garis (Stannage, p.348), Leake and his supporters set about "the best organised campaigning the state had ever witnessed" for the by-elections, and three of the ministers—Frank Wilson (Perth), Legislative Councillor Matthew Moss (West Province) and Frederick Moorhead (North Murchison) were defeated. William Purkiss won Perth whilst Labour candidate John Holman won North Murchison. Morgans, Quinlan and Nanson retained their seats.
6 The Morgans Ministry resigned on 20 December 1901 and a new six-member Ministry comprising Opposition members headed by George Leake was appointed three days later. These members were therefore required to resign and contest ministerial by-elections—four of them for the second time in seven months. All were returned on 7 January 1902—Illingworth and Gregory unopposed, the others winning against independent candidates.
7 In May 1902, the Ministerial member for Claremont, William Sayer, resigned. At the resulting by-election on 11 June 1902, Opposition candidate John Foulkes was elected.
8 On 24 June 1902, the Premier and member for West Perth, George Leake, died unexpectedly at the age of 45. The Independent candidate and former Ministerial member for East Coolgardie, Charles Moran, won the resulting by-election on 14 July 1902.
9 Following the death of Premier Leake, a new Ministry led by Leake supporter Walter James was appointed on 1 July 1902. Most of the ministers under Leake continued, so only Walter James (East Perth) and James Gardiner (Albany were required to resign and contest ministerial by-elections. Both were returned unopposed on 11 July 1902.
10 On 1 July 1902, William James George, the member for Murray, resigned. At the resulting by-election on 16 July 1902, Independent candidate William Atkins was elected.
11 On 29 September 1902, the Labour member for Hannans, John Reside, died. Labour candidate Thomas Bath was returned unopposed in the resulting by-election on 15 October 1902.
12 On 17 February 1903, John Marquis Hopkins, the member for Boulder, was appointed as Minister for Lands. He resigned to contest the ministerial by-election, but was returned unopposed on 25 February 1903.
13 On 12 February 1903, the Opposition member for Pilbara, Walter Kingsmill, resigned. At the resulting by-election on 18 March 1903, Independent candidate James Isdell was elected.
14 On 24 March 1903, the Ministerial member for York, Frederick Monger, resigned. At the resulting by-election on 6 April 1903, Ministerial candidate R. G. Burges was elected.
15 In August 1903, the Ministerial member for North Fremantle, Denis Doherty, resigned from parliament and returned to England. At the resulting by-election on 26 August 1903, John Ferguson was elected, beating Labor rival James Ives by 6 votes.
16 On 30 November 1903, the Ministerial member for Nelson and Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Sir James George Lee-Steere, died. Ministerial candidate John Walter was returned unopposed in the resulting by-election on 11 December 1903.
17 Note - The Legislative seat of Mt Magnet was originally totally omitted from this list. The seat was occupied by Frank Wallace, previously MLA for the former seat of Yalgoo. - Some other websites in this series also have omitted Mt Magnet for the Electoral period 1901-1904, and have it commencing as an electoral district in 1904

Sources

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