The Liberal Party, also known as the Liberal Union or the Liberal Union Party, was a short-lived political party in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

(mainly

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, Seychelle ...

and

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 ...

) that operated mainly in 1922. The party was formed by disaffected

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 ...

s, principally

Thomas Ashworth Thomas Ramsden Ashworth (5 December 1864 – 23 August 1935) was an Australian politician. Born in Richmond to medical practitioner Thomas Ramsden Ashworth and Mary Jane Leeson, his family moved to Bombala in New South Wales when he was a ...

and

Charles Merrett Colonel Sir Charles Edward Merrett Order of the British Empire, CBE (28 January 1863 – 11 November 1948) was an Australian merchant, agriculturist and political activist. Merrett was born at South Yarra in Melbourne to civil servant Samuel ...

, who opposed the leadership of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

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 during World War I, but ...

. Two federal Nationalist MPs, Victorian William Watt and South Australian Richard Foster, joined the Liberal Party and three more MPs ( John Latham from Victoria, and Malcolm Cameron and

Jack Duncan-Hughes John Grant "Jack" Duncan-Hughes (1 September 1882 – 13 August 1962) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for Boothby from 1922 to 1928, of the Australian Senate for South Australia fr ...

from South Australia) were elected in the 1922 federal election. South Australian Nationalist Senators

James Rowell Colonel James Rowell (20 January 1851 – 6 July 1940) was an English-born Australian politician, soldier and horticulturalist. Born in Cambridge, he migrated to Australia as a child and was educated in state schools. He served in the military ...

and

Edward Vardon Edward Charles Vardon (10 November 1866 – 23 February 1937) was an Australian businessman and politician. He served briefly as a Senator for South Australia (1921–1922) and was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly (1918–1921, ...

also contested the election, unsuccessfully, as Liberals. Their opposition to Hughes, coupled with the hostility of the Country Party to supporting a Hughes-led government, was a factor in Hughes' decision to resign the prime ministership in favour of

Stanley Bruce Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, (15 April 1883 – 25 August 1967) was an Australian politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929, as leader of the Nationalist Party. Born ...

. After Hughes' removal, all five Liberals rejoined the Nationalist Party, although they remained officially Liberals until 1925.

References

Defunct political parties in Australia Liberal parties in Australia Political parties with year of establishment missing Political parties disestablished in 1925 1925 disestablishments in Australia {{liberalparty-stub