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The 1901 Australian federal election for the inaugural Parliament of Australia was held in Australia on Friday 29 March and Saturday 30 March 1901. The elections followed Federation and the establishment of the
Commonwealth of Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
on 1 January 1901. All 75 seats in the
Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...
, six of which were uncontested, as well as all 36 seats in the
Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. There are a to ...
, were up for election. After the initial confusion of the
Hopetoun Blunder The Hopetoun Blunder was a political event immediately prior to the Federation of the British colonies in Australia. Federation was scheduled to occur on 1 January 1901, but since the general election for the first Parliament of Australia was ...
, the first Prime Minister of Australia, Edmund Barton, went into the inaugural 1901 federal election as the appointed head of a Protectionist Party
caretaker government A caretaker government is a temporary '' ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it usually consists of either randomly s ...
. While the Protectionists came first on votes and seats, they fell short of a majority. The incumbent government remained in office with the parliamentary support of the Labour Party, who held the balance of power, while the
Free Trade Party The Free Trade Party which was officially known as the Australian Free Trade and Liberal Association, also referred to as the Revenue Tariff Party in some states, was an Australian political party, formally organised in 1887 in New South Wales ...
formed the opposition. A few months prior to the 1903 election, Barton resigned to become a founding member of the
High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established following passage of the '' Judiciary Act 1903''. It ...
, and was replaced by
Alfred Deakin Alfred Deakin (3 August 1856 – 7 October 1919) was an Australian politician who served as the second Prime Minister of Australia. He was a leader of the movement for Federation, which occurred in 1901. During his three terms as prime ministe ...
. Then prime minister Edmund Barton entered parliament at this election, as did six future prime ministers Alfred Deakin,
Chris Watson John Christian Watson (born Johan Cristian Tanck; 9 April 186718 November 1941) was an Australian politician who served as the third prime minister of Australia, in office from 27 April to 18 August 1904. He served as the inaugural federal lead ...
, George Reid,
Joseph Cook Sir Joseph Cook, (7 December 1860 – 30 July 1947) was an Australian politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1913 to 1914. He was the leader of the Liberal Party from 1913 to 1917, after earlier servin ...
,
Andrew Fisher Andrew Fisher (29 August 186222 October 1928) was an Australian politician who served three terms as prime minister of Australia – from 1908 to 1909, from 1910 to 1913, and from 1914 to 1915. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Part ...
, and
Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country Military history of Austra ...
and future opposition leader Frank Tudor.


Background

The federation of the colonies of New South Wales, Queensland,
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 ...
, Tasmania,
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seyche ...
and Western Australia came into effect on 1 January 1901 to form the
Commonwealth of Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
. An election was held on Friday 29 March in Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania, and on Saturday 30 March 1901 in South Australia and Queensland, to elect the inaugural members of federal parliament. Floods in Queensland delayed polling in parts of the state until April. The 1901 election was the only one of two occasions in Australia's history that the entire country did not go to the polls on the same day in a general election, the second occasion being the 1993 "supplementary election" in the
Division of Dickson The Division of Dickson is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland, Australia. Dickson includes the suburbs of Kurwongbah, Petrie, Strathpine, Albany Creek, Ferny Hills, Everton Hills, Murrumba Downs and parts of Kallangur. The e ...
. This election was also the only time that an election or any part thereof was held on a day other than a Saturday. In what would later be known as the
Hopetoun Blunder The Hopetoun Blunder was a political event immediately prior to the Federation of the British colonies in Australia. Federation was scheduled to occur on 1 January 1901, but since the general election for the first Parliament of Australia was ...
, in December 1900 the Governor-General, the 7th Earl of Hopetoun commissioned William Lyne, the Premier of New South Wales, to form the first Commonwealth Government from 1 January 1901. The government was to conduct itself on a caretaker basis in the absence of a parliament. Lyne was unpopular and was unable to gain support, so he returned his commission. Edmund Barton was then called upon to form the interim government. Barton was sworn in as the inaugural Prime Minister, and his cabinet contested the poll as the incumbent government. Some candidates were still sitting members of a state parliament. William Lyne was a minister in Barton's interim government and a candidate for the Division of Hume while still Premier of New South Wales, and used his official premier's car during the campaign, resigning on 27 March.


Parties contesting the election

The parties contesting the election were the Protectionist Party, led by Prime Minister of Australia Edmund Barton, and the
Free Trade Party The Free Trade Party which was officially known as the Australian Free Trade and Liberal Association, also referred to as the Revenue Tariff Party in some states, was an Australian political party, formally organised in 1887 in New South Wales ...
, unofficially led by former
New South Wales Premier The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature ...
George Reid. There would not be a federal Labour Party until two months after the election, but in five of the six states local Labour parties contested the elections - in Tasmania, where there was no Labour party, King O'Malley was elected as an independent Labour candidate. There were also a number of independents of various political leanings and a New South Wales Senate ticket called the "Socialist Six", comprising Labour members in conflict with the official party. The Protectionists advocated the protection of local industries through the imposition of
tariff A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and po ...
s on imported goods, the construction of a transcontinental railway, a uniform railway gauge, uniform suffrage, aged pensions and defending the Australian constitution from radicals. The party used the colour red throughout the campaign. In addition to Barton, Protectionist candidates included many of the leading political figures from colonial Australia, including
Charles Kingston Charles Cameron Kingston (22 October 1850 – 11 May 1908) was an Australian politician. From 1893 to 1899 he was a radical liberal Premier of South Australia, occupying this office with the support of Labor, which in the House of Assembly ...
, Sir John Forrest, and future Prime Minister
Alfred Deakin Alfred Deakin (3 August 1856 – 7 October 1919) was an Australian politician who served as the second Prime Minister of Australia. He was a leader of the movement for Federation, which occurred in 1901. During his three terms as prime ministe ...
. The Free Traders (their official title was "Australian Free Trade and Liberal Association") advocated the dismantling of the tariff system, a transcontinental railway, and believed that aged pensions should be left to the states. As many of the policies of the Protectionists and Free Traders were similar, the Free Traders campaigned heavily on tariffs, with Reid stating that he wanted the election to be a plebiscite on tariffs. The party used the colour blue throughout the campaign. In addition to Reid, who believed he should have been appointed Prime Minister instead of Barton as he considered himself the bigger political figure, Free Trade candidates included Reid's unofficial deputy
Paddy Glynn Patrick McMahon Glynn KC (25 August 1855 – 28 October 1931) was an Irish-Australian lawyer and politician. He served in the House of Representatives from 1901 to 1919, and was a government minister under three prime ministers, as Attorney-Ge ...
, William Irvine, and former state Labour leader and future
Commonwealth Liberal Party The Liberal Party was a parliamentary party in Australian federal politics between 1909 and 1917. The party was founded under Alfred Deakin's leadership as a merger of the Protectionist Party and Anti-Socialist Party, an event known as the Fu ...
Prime Minister
Joseph Cook Sir Joseph Cook, (7 December 1860 – 30 July 1947) was an Australian politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1913 to 1914. He was the leader of the Liberal Party from 1913 to 1917, after earlier servin ...
. Labour advocated old age pensions, electoral reform, a national army, compulsory arbitration of industrial disputes and a national referendum to decide issues that would otherwise lead to a double dissolution of parliament. Senior Labour candidates included future Prime Ministers
Chris Watson John Christian Watson (born Johan Cristian Tanck; 9 April 186718 November 1941) was an Australian politician who served as the third prime minister of Australia, in office from 27 April to 18 August 1904. He served as the inaugural federal lead ...
,
Andrew Fisher Andrew Fisher (29 August 186222 October 1928) was an Australian politician who served three terms as prime minister of Australia – from 1908 to 1909, from 1910 to 1913, and from 1914 to 1915. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Part ...
and
Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country Military history of Austra ...
. Labour candidates were elected as individual state-based candidates, who met before the first sitting of Parliament on 8 May 1901 and agreed to form a federal Labour Party. Chris Watson, a Sydney printer and former member of the New South Wales Parliament, was elected the inaugural leader of the Party. All parties were in support of a
White Australia The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting in ...
as was the norm at the time, with only a single parliamentarian, Free Trader
Bruce Smith Bruce Bernard Smith (born June 18, 1963) is an American former football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 19 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at Virginia Tech, where he was ...
, fully opposing the legislation.Rutledge, M. (1988) Smith, Arthur Bruce (1851 - 1937), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11'', Melbourne University Press, Carlton.


Voting and enrolment

Voting franchise was according to each state's specific electoral laws. South Australian and Western Australian women were enfranchised, but in the other states, they could not vote. Tasmania retained a small property qualification for voting, but in the other states, all males over 21 were eligible to vote. In several states Indigenous Australians were technically allowed to vote, however, they faced
voter suppression Voter suppression is a strategy used to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing specific groups of people from voting. It is distinguished from political campaigning in that campaigning attempts to change likely voting ...
. In New South Wales for instance, Aboriginal men who voted were arrested by police for "double voting" with very little evidence to back up the case. Voting was voluntary throughout Australia and in most states candidates were elected by a "first past the post" voting system. In South Australia, voters were required to mark the box opposite their preferred candidates, while in other states voters were required to cross out the names of non-preferred candidates. The following table describes the varying electoral systems.


Electorates

All seats were to be filled − 75 in the House of Representatives and 36 in the Senate. Six House seats were uncontested. There were 75 House of Representative seats to be filled. The initial number of seats for each state were set out in the Australian Constitution. New South Wales was allocated 26, Victoria 23, Queensland 9, South Australia 7, Western Australia 5 and Tasmania 5. The South Australian and Tasmanian colonial parliaments had not legislated for single member electorates, so their House of Representative members were elected from a single statewide electorate. In South Australia, each elector cast seven votes, while in Tasmania, each elector cast one vote. Each state elected six Senators, in accordance with the Constitution. Senators in each state were elected on a statewide electorate basis by bloc voting rather than the current proportional representation or single transferable vote system.


Campaign

The campaign period officially commenced on 17 January 1901, although some candidates, particularly Reid, had been unofficially campaigning since December the previous year. The campaign was delayed due to the death of Queen Victoria on 22 January, but soon got into full swing again as candidates travelled widely to address lively public meetings. Reid drew the biggest crowds, including 8,000 to a rally in
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
and he campaigned widely, travelling to Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania, while
Paddy Glynn Patrick McMahon Glynn KC (25 August 1855 – 28 October 1931) was an Irish-Australian lawyer and politician. He served in the House of Representatives from 1901 to 1919, and was a government minister under three prime ministers, as Attorney-Ge ...
organised the Free Trade campaign in South Australia. The Protectionists were forced to modify their immigration policy following an outcry from Queensland Protectionist candidates who feared that a White Australia policy would impinge on the importation of
Kanakas Kanakas were workers (a mix of voluntary and involuntary) from various Pacific Islands employed in British colonies, such as British Columbia (Canada), Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Queensland (Australia) in the 19t ...
to work on Queensland sugar plantations. Their policy was revised to read that Kanakas would be only be sent back to their country of origin when they were no longer of any use to the sugar industry. On the whole, however, a white Australia was extremely popular with the electorate and most candidates outdid themselves to prove how much they supported it. It was left to Free Trade candidate for
Parkes Parkes may refer to: * Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), Australian politician, one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for Australian federation Named for Henry Parkes * Parkes, New South Wales, a regional town * Parkes Observatory, a radi ...
,
Bruce Smith Bruce Bernard Smith (born June 18, 1963) is an American former football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 19 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at Virginia Tech, where he was ...
(a leading representative of the employers), to oppose anti-immigration measures.
Andrew Fisher Andrew Fisher (29 August 186222 October 1928) was an Australian politician who served three terms as prime minister of Australia – from 1908 to 1909, from 1910 to 1913, and from 1914 to 1915. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Part ...
argued that any Kanaka who had converted to Christianity and married should be allowed to remain in Australia. Both were elected comfortably. The Free Traders also had to modify part of their election platform when they realised that to advocate for the removal of all tariffs protecting Australian industries would be political suicide. Many employees in these industries considered the removal of tariffs as likely to mean the end of their jobs. The Protectionists enjoyed the support of the powerful
Australian Natives' Association The Australian Natives' Association (ANA) was a mutual society founded in Melbourne, Australia in April 1871. It was founded by and for the benefit of native-born white Australians and membership was restricted exclusively to that group. The A ...
(ANA) throughout the campaign as well as the endorsements of '' The Age'' and ''
The Sydney Bulletin ''The Bulletin'' was an Australian weekly magazine first published in Sydney on 31 January 1880. The publication's focus was politics and business, with some literary content, and editions were often accompanied by cartoons and other illustrati ...
'', while Free Trade received support from business interests and the endorsements of '' The Sydney Morning Herald'', '' The Daily Telegraph'', '' The Brisbane Courier'', Melbourne's '' The Argus'' and ''The Adelaide Register''. Labour could only rely on union-owned newspapers, although some of these enjoyed a great level of influence in some electorates (the ''Gympie Truth'' for example is considered to have played an important role in the election of its part-owner, Andrew Fisher, in Wide Bay). There were only two cars used in the 1901 election campaign; William Lyne, who was a candidate for the Division of Hume while still Premier of New South Wales, used his official Premier's car to great advantage; the shipping magnate and candidate for Melbourne Sir Malcolm McEacharn, enjoyed the use of his car while travelling around his electorate.


Election day

Complaints were received by polling officials about the earlier than advertised closing of polling booths in some electorates, the poor quality pencils supplied to fill in ballot papers (they apparently blunted easily, leaving many votes incomprehensible to officials) and the Senate ballot paper in New South Wales which listed 50 candidates, confusing many voters and leading to a significant number of informal votes. These complaints aside, the administering of the first federal election was seen as a great success and a credit to the polling officials who, in some cases, were responsible for electorates larger than some European countries.


Results


House of Representatives


Senate


Analysis

The Free Traders won most of the seats in New South Wales, apart from the border areas where the Protectionists were strong. The Protectionists won most of the seats in their stronghold, Victoria. Labour won some inner urban seats but most of their members represented pastoral and mining areas. In the smaller states many members had no fixed party loyalty and saw themselves as representing the interests of their states. Seven Prime Ministers of Australia (Barton, Deakin, Watson, Reid, Fisher, Joseph Cook and Hughes) were elected at this election, as were a number of influential former state Premiers (Sir John Forrest, Lyne, George Turner,
Anderson Dawson Andrew Dawson (16 July 1863 – 20 July 1910), usually known as Anderson Dawson, was an Australian politician, the Premier of Queensland for one week (1–7 December) in 1899. This short-lived premiership was the first Australian Labor Party go ...
,
Philip Fysh Sir Philip Oakley Fysh (1 March 1835 – 20 December 1919) was an English-born Australian politician. He arrived in Tasmania in 1859 and became a leading merchant in Hobart. He served two terms as premier of Tasmania (1877–1878, 1887–1892) ...
and Charles Kingston among them). With no past to live down, Barton's Protectionist ministry had all the advantages of incumbency with none of the problems, which meant that a Protectionist victory was almost a certainty, and Barton had been confident of obtaining a comfortable majority in parliament.Bastian, p. 82. However, while Barton and his ministry were returned, they had to rely on Labour support to pass legislation. Although the Protectionists remained in government, however, many observers saw the result as a moral victory for Free Trade (who won more seats than the Protectionists in the three smallest states of South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia). Labour also performed better than expected, particularly after the post-election recruitment of O'Malley. Labour was the smallest of the three parties in the House but held the balance of power. Chris Watson pursued the same policy as Labour had done in the colonial parliaments. He kept the Protectionist governments of Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin in office, in exchange for legislative concessions including the immensely popular White Australia policy. Such was the overwhelming support for a White Australia by the electorate and the three political parties that the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 was the seventeenth piece of legislation passed by the nascent parliament. The average national voting turnout was 60% of enrolled voters, with the
Division of Newcastle   The Division of Newcastle is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. Geography Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution commit ...
gaining the highest turnout on 97%, while the
Division of Fremantle The Division of Fremantle is an electoral division of the Australian House of Representatives in Western Australia. Geography Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistrib ...
recorded the lowest turnout on 30%. Of the two elected independents, both were from Queensland.
James Wilkinson James Wilkinson (March 24, 1757 – December 28, 1825) was an American soldier, politician, and double agent who was associated with several scandals and controversies. He served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, b ...
, elected to the seat of Moreton, was a former member of the Labour Party, and rejoined the party in 1903. Alexander Paterson, representing Capricornia, had no political affiliation, and retired in 1903.


Pendulum

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 ...
and Tasmania went to the election as single multi-member constituencies. South Australia elected seven members, each elector casting seven votes: four Free Traders (
Paddy Glynn Patrick McMahon Glynn KC (25 August 1855 – 28 October 1931) was an Irish-Australian lawyer and politician. He served in the House of Representatives from 1901 to 1919, and was a government minister under three prime ministers, as Attorney-Ge ...
, 59.5%;
Frederick Holder Sir Frederick William Holder (12 May 185023 July 1909) was an Australian politician. He was Premier of South Australia from June to October 1892 and again from 1899 to 1901. He was a prominent member of the inaugural Parliament of Australia fo ...
, 59.5%;
Alexander Poynton Alexander Poynton OBE (8 August 1853 – 9 January 1935) was an Australian politician. He held ministerial office under Prime Minister Billy Hughes, serving as Treasurer (1916–1917), Minister for Home and Territories (1920–1921), and Postma ...
, 41.1%; and
Vaiben Louis Solomon Vaiben Louis Solomon (13 May 1853 – 20 October 1908) was the 21st Premier of South Australia and a member of the first Australian Commonwealth parliament. He was generally known by his full name (perhaps to distinguish him from his uncle, ...
, 43.0%), two Protectionists (
Charles Kingston Charles Cameron Kingston (22 October 1850 – 11 May 1908) was an Australian politician. From 1893 to 1899 he was a radical liberal Premier of South Australia, occupying this office with the support of Labor, which in the House of Assembly ...
, 65.9%;
Langdon Bonython Langdon may refer to: Places Australia * Langdon, Queensland, a neighbourhood in the Mackay Region Canada * Langdon, Alberta, a hamlet United Kingdom * Langdon, Cornwall, a hamlet * Langdon, Kent, a civil parish * Langdon, Pembrokeshir ...
, 62.7%) and one Labour member (
Lee Batchelor Egerton Lee Batchelor (10 April 1865 – 8 October 1911) was an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was a pioneer of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in South Australia, which at the time was known as the United Labor Party (ULP). He w ...
, 50.3%). Tasmania elected five members, each elector casting one vote: three Free Traders (
Edward Braddon Sir Edward Nicholas Coventry Braddon (11 June 1829 – 2 February 1904) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Tasmania from 1894 to 1899, and was a Member of the First Australian Parliament in the House of Representatives. Bradd ...
, 26.2%; Norman Cameron, 11.6%; Frederick Piesse, 10.1%), one Protectionist (
Philip Fysh Sir Philip Oakley Fysh (1 March 1835 – 20 December 1919) was an English-born Australian politician. He arrived in Tasmania in 1859 and became a leading merchant in Hobart. He served two terms as premier of Tasmania (1877–1878, 1887–1892) ...
, 9.9%) and one Labour member ( King O'Malley, 21.9%).


See also

* Candidates of the 1901 Australian federal election * Results of the 1901 Australian federal election (House of Representatives) * Results of the 1901 Australian federal election (Senate) * Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1901–1903 * Members of the Australian Senate, 1901–1903


References


Sources

*
State and federal election results
in Australia since 1890 * *


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Federal Election, 1901 1901 elections in Australia March 1901 events Federal elections in Australia