Samuel Dennison (12 December 1869 – 27 March 1953) was an Australian politician. He represented the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the South Australian Legislative Council, Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament House in the st ...

multi-member An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections ma ...

seat of Wooroora from 1930 to 1938 for the Country Party and its successor the

Liberal and Country League Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and ...

. Dennison was born at

Auburn, South Australia Auburn is a small town in the southern edge of the Clare Valley, in the Mid North of South Australia. It lies in the northern Mount Lofty Ranges just east of the Skilly Hills. Auburn is bisected by the Wakefield River as it makes its way to ...

, the son of early colonist Robert Dennison. He went into farming, like his father, and eventually took over his father's property, farming wheat, sheep and wool. He was a District Council of Upper Wakefield councillor from 1911 to 1920 and served a long stint as chairman of the council. Following World War I, he was chairman of the Auburn Repatriation Commission and chairman of the local war memorial committee. Later, he served for many years as chairman of the Northern Agricultural Society, was the first chairman of the Auburn Hospital board and was the Chief Ranger and Trustee of the Court Auburn Forresters' Friendly Society. He was an advocate of the construction of the Spalding railway line and of the retention of the Upper Wakefield council during the 1930s council amalgamations. Dennison was elected to the House of Assembly at the 1930 election, representing the Country Party. His seat of Wooroora was safe for the conservative parties, but was subject to a contest with the rival

Liberal Federation The Liberal Federation was a South Australian political party from 16 October 1923 to 1932. It came into existence as a merger between the rival Liberal Union and National Party, to oppose Labor. Encouraged by the overwhelming success of the ...

; Dennison managed to win the third of the available three seats. Dennison's inaugural speech, made in June 1930, advocated proportional representation, rejected any electoral system which would change the allocation of seats between city and rural communities, supported a review of the land tax system, supported Crown lands being made available for closer settlement and raised issues about hospital funding structures. He was re-elected at the 1933 election for the

, the Country Party and Liberal Federation having merged during his first term. Electoral reform taking effect from the 1938 election saw the abolition of multi-member electorates in the House of Assembly and a return to the single-member system. By January 1937, Dennison had decided to contest the new

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electorate, which was also sought by LCL party president and fellow MHA Alexander Melrose. However, by June that year, media reports stated that he had "no chance" of winning preselection and would instead run as an independent. He recontested in Stanley as an independent and lost his seat to Melrose. In 1950, Dennison left the Auburn district and moved to Prospect in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. He died at Prospect in 1953, aged 83, and was buried in the Auburn Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dennison, Samuel 1869 births 1953 deaths Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Liberal and Country League politicians