South Australian state election, 1905
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State elections were held in South Australia on 27 May 1905. All 42 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent conservative government led by
Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
of South Australia Richard Butler in an informal coalition with the liberals was defeated by the United Labor Party (ULP) led by
Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
Thomas Price Thomas Price may refer to: *Thomas Price (South Australian politician) (1852–1909), Premier of South Australia *Thomas Price (bishop) (1599–1685), Church of Ireland archbishop of Cashel *Thomas Price (Carnhuanawc) (1787–1848), Welsh literary ...
. Each of the 13 districts elected multiple members, with voters casting multiple votes. The first ministry formed after the 1902 election by John Jenkins, who resigned prior to the 1905 election. Richard Butler took the parliament into the 1905 election. Prior to the election, a new party formed. The rural stockowners and graziers were concerned at the concentration of the
Australasian National League The National Defence League (NDL) was an independent conservative political party, founded in 1891 by MLC Richard Baker in South Australia as an immediate response to the perceived threat from Labor. Though renamed the Australasian National Lea ...
(ANL) on the metropolitan electorates and urban issues. In 1905, these interests formed 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 ...
(FPPU), which had a conservative political agenda, and was absolutely opposed to franchise reform. It was essentially the rural wing of the ANL. There were four distinct blocs at the election, with the over-riding issue that of franchise reform for the Legislative Council: the ULP, a liberal group of franchise reformers led by
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 ...
, the Butler moderate conservatives with some FPPU support, and an "extreme conservative" group led by John Darling at the core of the ANL. There was no "Liberal" party, but there was a relatively cohesive liberal group among both independent members and candidates. The
Liberal and Democratic Union The Liberal and Democratic Union (LDU) was a South Australian political party formed by early liberals, as opposed to the conservatives. It was formed in 1906 when liberal party structures were becoming more solid. Its leader, Archibald Peake, s ...
would not be formed until the 1906 election. The ULP, on the fewest seats prior to the election, in just one election became the single largest party, increasing their primary vote to 41.3 (+22.2) percent and increasing their representation from five to 15 seats, winning 11 of the 12 city seats (four at the last election) from the three city multi-member electorates, Adelaide,
Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...
and
Torrens Torrens may refer to: Places South Australia * Electoral district of Torrens, a state electoral district * Lake Torrens, a salt lake north of Adelaide * River Torrens, which runs through the heart of Adelaide * Torrens Building, a heritage-liste ...
, with a policy of development and progress, expansion of business and honest government: "they would not be frightened by the nonsense that had been talked about socialism". After the new lower house first met, the ULP forced the incumbent conservative Butler government to resign with the support of several disaffected non-ULP MPs, forming the Price-Peake administration
minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...
. Peake sought the alliance stating "the only difference between us is a difference of degree and of speed". It was the start of the first stable Labor government in the world. A year later at the 1906 election, the ULP would increase their primary vote to 44.8 (+3.5) percent and increase their representation from 15 to 20 seats, just two short of a parliamentary majority.


See also

*
Members of the South Australian House of Assembly, 1905-1906 Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...
*
Members of the South Australian Legislative Council, 1905–1908 This is a list of members of the South Australian Legislative Council The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislati ...


References


History of South Australian elections 1857-2006, volume 1: ECSAStatistical Record of the Legislature 1836-2007: SA ParliamentState and federal election results
in Australia since 1890


External links


The 13 electorates from 1902 to 1915: The Adelaide Chronicle
{{South Australian elections Elections in South Australia 1905 elections in Australia 1900s in South Australia May 1905 events