The Liberal and Democratic Union (LDU) was a

South Australian South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, 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 o ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

formed by early liberals, as opposed to the

conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

. It was formed in 1906 when liberal party structures were becoming more solid. Its leader,

Archibald Peake Archibald Henry Peake (15 January 1859 – 6 April 1920) was an Australian politician. He was Premier of South Australia on three occasions: from 1909 to 1910 for the Liberal and Democratic Union, and from 1912 to 1915 and 1917 to 1920 for its ...

, stressed that the LDU represented 'something not so sharply set as

Labourism The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

, not so dull in its edge as conservatism'. But with

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 la ...

taking over the middle ground, Kingstonian liberals like Peake had to choose. At the 1905 election, Peake sought a Liberal alliance with

Price A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or compensation given by one party to another in return for goods or services. In some situations, the price of production has a different name. If the product is a "good" in the c ...

Labor: 'the only difference between us is a difference of degree and of speed'. The Price-Peake administration was formed. At the 1906 election, the LDU won 10 percent of the vote and nine of 42 seats and continued to support the Price Labor government. When Price died in 1909, Labor as the largest single party in the lower house demanded it retain the premiership in their coalition, however Peake refused. Invited to form a ministry, he filled it with LDU members and became premier, treasurer and minister of education. The ministry survived with the parliamentary support of two independent conservative parties, the Australasian National League (formerly National Defence League) and the

Farmers and Producers Political Union The Farmers and Producers Political Union (FPPU) was an independent conservative agrarian political party founded in South Australia in reaction to Labor, keen to fend off a perceived threat to the FPPU's interests against a rising labour moveme ...

, and in December was reconstructed to include members of both.

John Verran John Verran (9 July 1856 – 7 June 1932) was an Australian politician and trade unionist. He served as premier of South Australia from 1910 to 1912, the second member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to hold the position. Verran was b ...

led Labor to South Australia's first

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. ...

with 22 of 42 seats from a 49.1 percent primary vote at the 1910 election. The three anti-Labor parties endorsed a shared "Liberal" slate of candidates, winning a combined 20 of 42 seats from a 49.6 percent combined primary vote. Later in 1910 after the election, the parties merged and formed the Liberal Union with Peake as leader. The parties readily approved the merger, however, the LDU which salvaged the fewest of their principles from the merger were more hesitant. Peake persuaded a party conference that 'the day of the middle party is passed', and approved the merger by just one vote.

References

* Grainger, G. Peake, Archibald Henry (1859 - 1920),
Australian Dictionary of Biography
' Defunct liberal political parties Defunct political parties in South Australia Liberal parties in Australia {{liberalparty-stub

See also

References