State elections were held in South Australia on 17 September 1977. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

of South Australia Don Dunstan won a fourth term in government, defeating the Liberal Party of Australia 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 ...

David Tonkin David Oliver Tonkin AO (20 July 1929 – 2 October 2000) was an Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of South Australia from 18 September 1979 to 10 November 1982. He was elected to the House of Assembly seat of Bragg at the 1 ...

Background

Parliamentary elections for the lower house of the Parliament of South Australia were held in South Australia in 1977. There was no election for Legislative Council; and as of 2020, this is the most recent South Australian election which has not been for both houses. The Labor Party led by Don Dunstan, which had won the previous three elections in 1970, 1973 and 1975, defeated the Liberal Party of Australia opposition led by

. It was the first time that a Labor government in South Australia had been re-elected for a fourth term, and would be the first nine-year-incumbent Labor government. This would be Dunstan's last election before resigning due to ill health in 1979. This was the first election after the end of Playmander seat weighting where

one vote one value In Australia, one vote, one value is a democratic principle, applied in electoral laws governing redistributions of electoral divisions of the House of Representatives. The principle calls for all electoral divisions to have the same number of e ...

was introduced. At the previous election some metropolitan seats still saw more than three times the number of voters than in some rural seats, despite most of the Playmander being abolished nearly a decade ago. The redistribution was the reason Dunstan called an early election.History of South Australian elections 1857–2006, volume 1

Dean Jaensch Dean Harold Jaensch (27 October 1936 – 17 January 2022) was an Australian political scientist and a Professor of Political and International Studies at The Flinders University of South Australia. Jaensch was awarded a Bachelor of Arts (Hon ...

, Electoral Commission of SA The Australian Democrats ran for the first time under a joint New LM-Australian Democrats ticket, winning an average 12.3 percent of the primary vote in the 12 electorates they contested, with former LCL MP Robin Millhouse retaining his seat of Mitcham, which he would hold until 1982.

Key dates

* Issue of writ: 25 August 1977 * Close of nominations: 2 September 1977 * Polling day: 19 September 1977 * Return of writ: On or before 3 October 1977

Results

Keith Russack Edwin Keith Russack (2 April 1918 – 26 February 1999) known as Keith Russack, was a politician in the State of South Australia. History Russack was born at Kadina, South Australia, the youngest son of Alfred Hermann Russack (1879 – 5 Novemb ...

stood as an Independent Liberal, but later joined the Liberal Party; giving the numbers: 27 Labor, 18 Liberal, 1 Country Party, 1 Australian Democrat. A 1979 Norwood by-election was triggered as a result of Dunstan's resignation. Labor retained the seat on a considerably reduced majority.

Seats changing party representation

This table lists changes in party representation at the 1977 election. * Members listed in italics did not recontest this election. *

was the sitting Liberal member for the abolished district of Gouger. He was not pre-selected for any seat in the redistribution, so he quit the party and ran as an Independent candidate for the seat of Goyder. *

David Boundy Leslie David Boundy (12 August 1932 – 18 July 2003) was an Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Goyder from 1974 to 1977 for the Liberal Movement and Liberal Party. See also *1974 Goyder st ...

was elected as a Liberal Movement member for Goyder, but joined the Liberal party in 1976. He was defeated by Keith Russack, who re-joined the Liberal party after being elected. * Sitting Liberal MP for the abolished district of Heysen,

David Wotton David Charles Wotton AM (born 14 August 1942) is a former Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party member of the South Australian House of Assembly between 1975 and 2002, representing the electorates of Murray and Heysen. Aside from the ...

was preselected for the district of

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...

over incumbent MP Ivon Wardle. Wardle contested the election as an Independent, but was defeated by Wotton. * Robin Millhouse was elected in 1975 as Liberal Movement member for Mitcham. He joined the Democrats in 1977 and won a second term to his seat. *

Ted Connelly Edward Connelly (6 November 1918 – 17 September 2013) was an Australian politician. He was an independent (politics), independent member of the South Australian House of Assembly between 1975 and 1977, representing the electorate of Elector ...

was elected as an Independent MP for the abolished district of Pirie in 1975, but later joined the Labor party. He contested the seat of

Rocky River Rocky River may refer to: Localities *Rocky River, Ohio, USA * Rocky River, New South Wales near Uralla, Australia Electorates *Electoral district of Rocky River (South Australia) Streams In Australia: * Rocky River (New South Wales) * R ...

and lost. * Sitting Labor MP for the abolished seat of Tea Tree Gully,

Molly Byrne Molly Veronica Byrne (born 30 November 1928) is a former Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly seats of Barossa from 1965 to 1970, Tea Tree Gully from 1970 to 1977, and Todd from 1977 to 1979 for the Labo ...

instead contested the new seat of

Todd Todd or Todds may refer to: Places ;Australia: * Todd River, an ephemeral river ;United States: * Todd Valley, California, also known as Todd, an unincorporated community * Todd, Missouri, a ghost town * Todd, North Carolina, an unincorporated ...

and won.

Post-election pendulum

References

Historical lower house results

State and federal election results
in Australia since 1890 ;Specific {{South Australian elections Elections in South Australia 1977 elections in Australia 1970s in South Australia September 1977 events in Australia