The Electoral district of North Perth was a Legislative Assembly

electorate Electorate may refer to: * The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate'' * The dominion of a Prince-elector in the Holy Roman Empire until 1806 * An electoral district An ...

in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. The district was named for its location immediately to the north of the central business district of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. North Perth was created under the ''Constitution Acts Amendment Act 1896'', which took effect at the 1897 election. Its first election was notable in producing Western Australia's first

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member of Parliament, Charles Oldham, who had been a president of the Trades and Labor Council and had become an employer, and hence could afford to run in the days prior to payment of members. Oldham associated with the official opposition led by

George Leake George Leake (3 December 1856 – 24 June 1902) was the third Premier of Western Australia, serving from May to November 1901 and then again from December 1901 to his death. Leake was born in Perth, into a prominent local family. Studying l ...

, but ultimately his seat was declared vacant for non-attendance on 16 October 1900. An independent, Richard Speight, won at the subsequent

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

four months later, but died just seven months into his term. The seat changed hands several times between Labor and non-Labor members until 1914, when

James MacCallum Smith James MacCallum Smith (26 April 1868 – 6 August 1939) was an Australian politician, newspaper proprietor and stock breeder. He lobbied unsuccessfully for many years for the secession of Western Australia from the Federation of Australia. Bio ...

won the seat for the

Liberal party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, which folded into the

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

. He and his Nationalist successor

Arthur Abbott Arthur Valentine Rutherford Abbott (14 February 1892 – 10 October 1975) was an Australian lawyer and politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1939 to 1956. He was a minister in the government of Sir ...

were the seat's only members until a major redistribution following the abolition of the neighbouring

seat at the 1950 election transformed it into a marginal seat. Future

Premier of Western Australia The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive bra ...

(1982–1983),

Ray O'Connor Raymond James O'Connor (6 March 1926 – 25 February 2013) was an Australian politician who served as the premier of Western Australia from 25 January 1982 to 25 February 1983. He was a member of parliament from 1959 to 1984, and a minister in ...

, won his first term of office against the incumbent Labor member

Stan Lapham Stanley Edward Lapham (born 21 April 1908 in Kalgoorlie – died 14 December 1987) was a Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch), Labor politician from Western Australia. He held the seat of Electoral district of North Perth, North Per ...

in the 1959 election. The seat was abolished in a redistribution in 1961 ahead of the 1962 election, and the seat was split between a recreated Perth seat and

Mount Lawley Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

Members for North Perth

Election results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:North Perth Former electoral districts of Western Australia