State elections were held in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

on 27 March 1915. All 46 seats in the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was creat ...

were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Union government led by Premier of South Australia Archibald Peake was defeated by the opposition

United Labor Party 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 ...

led by

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

Crawford Vaughan Crawford Vaughan (14 July 1874 – 15 December 1947) was an Australian politician, and the Premier of South Australia from 1915 to 1917. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1905 to 1918, representing Torrens (19 ...

. Each district elected multiple members, with voters casting multiple votes. A redistribution in 1913 was forced by the enlargement of the House of Assembly to 46 members. The state was divided into 19 electoral districts: eight 3-member, eleven 2-member. The redistribution's intention failed as it was meant to assist the Liberal Union. The United Labor Party became the South Australian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) on 14 September 1917.What's in a name?: Trove 15 Sep 1917
/ref> The

National Labor Party The National Labor Party was formed by Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes in 1916, following the 1916 Labor split on the issue of World War I conscription in Australia. Hughes had taken over as leader of the Australian Labor Party and Pr ...

, a splinter group of the ALP, formed in 1917 state and federally over the issue of

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

. The ALP had elected 26 of 46 Assembly members at the 1915 election, all but seven ALP MPs defected to National Labor. The ALP had 7 of 20 Council members, four defected. Seven MPs of the renamed National Party were re-elected at the 1918 election.

Notes

References

History of South Australian elections 1857-2006, volume 1: ECSAState and federal election results
in Australia since 1890 {{South Australian elections Elections in South Australia 1915 elections in Australia 1910s in South Australia March 1915 events

See also

Notes

References