Williams was an
electoral district of the
Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of
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 ...
from 1890 to 1950.
A rural district named for the town of
Williams in Western Australia's
Wheatbelt region, it was one of the original 30 districts contested at the
1890 election. In 1898, it included the towns of
Bannister,
Narrogin,
Darkan,
Arthur River,
Wagin,
Katanning,
Woodanilling, and
Moojebing.
The name of the district was changed to Williams-Narrogin at the
1911 election, the same election which saw
Bertie Johnston of the
Labor Party elected as its representative. Johnston resigned from the Labor Party in December 1915 over issues with the
Scaddan government, and resigned his seat in Parliament. He recontested (unopposed, as it turned out) the resulting
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
and was thus re-elected as an independent. His actions brought about the downfall of the Labor government of
John Scaddan
John Scaddan, CMG (4 August 1876 – 21 November 1934), popularly known as "Happy Jack", was Premier of Western Australia from 7 October 1911 until 27 July 1916.
Early life
John Scaddan was born in Moonta, South Australia, into a Cornish A ...
in August 1916 when it next met. Johnston briefly served as
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
in February 1917, however, his former Labor colleagues opposed his appointment and refused to respect his authority, forcing him to resign after just a few days in favour of
James Gardiner. Later in 1917, he joined the
Country Party.
Williams-Narrogin was abolished ahead of the
1950 election, and was replaced by the seat of
Narrogin. Sitting member
Victor Doney of the
Country Party transferred to the new Narrogin seat.
Members
Election results
References
{{Reflist
Williams