Australian federal election, 1955 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Federal elections were held in Australia on 10 December 1955. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

, and 30 of the 60 seats in the Senate

Australian Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

led by Prime Minister of Australia

Prime Minister of Australia

The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...

Robert Menzies

Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....

with coalition

Coalition (Australia)

The Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922...

partner the Country Party led by Arthur Fadden

Arthur Fadden

Sir Arthur William Fadden, GCMG was an Australian politician and, briefly, the 13th Prime Minister of Australia.-Introduction:...

defeated the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

led by H. V. Evatt

H. V. Evatt

Herbert Vere Evatt, QC KStJ , was an Australian jurist, politician and writer. He was President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1948–49 and helped draft the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights...

House of Reps (IRV
Instant-runoff voting
Instant-runoff voting , also known as preferential voting, the alternative vote and ranked choice voting, is a voting system used to elect one winner. Voters rank candidates in order of preference, and their ballots are counted as one vote for their first choice candidate. If a candidate secures a...

) — 1955–58—Turnout 95.00% (CV
Compulsory voting
Compulsory voting is a system in which electors are obliged to vote in elections or attend a polling place on voting day. If an eligible voter does not attend a polling place, he or she may be subject to punitive measures such as fines, community service, or perhaps imprisonment if fines are unpaid...

) — Informal 2.88%
Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	1,961,829	44.63	−5.40	47	−10
Liberal Party of Australia Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	1,746,485	39.73	+1.43	57	+10	(5 elected unopposed)
Country Party	347,445	7.90	−0.61	18	+1	(5 elected unopposed)
Anti-Communist Labor Party Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist) The Australian Labor Party was the name initially used by the right-wing group which split away from the Australian Labor Party in 1955, and which later became the Democratic Labor Party in 1957....	227,083	5.17	*	0	0
Other	112,693	2.56		0	0
Total	4,395,535			122	+1
Liberal/Country coalition Coalition (Australia) The Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922...	WIN	54.20	+4.90	75	+11
Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...		45.80	−4.90	47	−10

This would be the last federal election where any seat attracted only one candidate, who was elected unopposed.

Senate (STV
Single transferable vote
The single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...

) — 1955–58—Turnout 95.01% (CV
Compulsory voting
Compulsory voting is a system in which electors are obliged to vote in elections or attend a polling place on voting day. If an eligible voter does not attend a polling place, he or she may be subject to punitive measures such as fines, community service, or perhaps imprisonment if fines are unpaid...

) — Informal 9.63%
Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held
Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	1,803,335	40.61	−10.01	12	28
Liberal/Country (Joint Ticket)	1,748,878	39.38	+12.93	8	*
Liberal Party of Australia Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	384,732	8.66	−9.32	8	24
Anti-Communist Labor Party Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist) The Australian Labor Party was the name initially used by the right-wing group which split away from the Australian Labor Party in 1955, and which later became the Democratic Labor Party in 1957....	271,067	6.10	*	1	2
Communist Party of Australia Communist Party of Australia The Communist Party of Australia was founded in 1920 and dissolved in 1991; it was succeeded by the Socialist Party of Australia, which then renamed itself, becoming the current Communist Party of Australia. The CPA achieved its greatest political strength in the 1940s and faced an attempted...	161,869	3.64	+0.59	0	0
Country Party	27,850	0.63	+0.63	1	6
Other	43,294	0.97		0	0
Total	4,612,059			30	60

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1955				Swing	Post-1955
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	Margin	Member	Party
Ballaarat, Vic Division of Ballarat The Division of Ballarat is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named for the provincial city of Ballarat....		Labor	Robert Joshua Robert Joshua Robert Joshua, MC was an Australian politician, and a key figure in the 1955 split in the Australian Labor Party which led to the formation of the Australian Labor Party and, subsequently, the Democratic Labor Party.-Early life:Joshua was born at Prahran, Victoria, to Edward Cecil Joshua, a... *	2.6	10.7	7.9	Dudley Erwin Dudley Erwin Dudley Erwin was an Australian politician and briefly Minister for Air.During World War II, Erwin served as a flight lieutenant in the Royal Australian Air Force as a navigator in No. 31 Squadron and was involved in the South West Pacific. Prior to enter politics, he was an electrical radio...	Liberal
Hume, NSW Division of Hume The Division of Hume is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. The Division is located in the central part of the state, just north of the Australian Capital Territory. The Division covers a predominantly rural area, with agriculture and coal mining the main industries...		Labor	Arthur Fuller Arthur Fuller Arthur Nieberding Fuller was a long serving member of the Australian House of Representatives.Born in Gundagai to a goldminer and his wife, Fuller spent his childhood in the New South Wales goldfields. He later managed a clothing store in Cobar before moving to Tumut in 1919 to open a clothing...	2,2	3.5	2.2	Charles Anderson Charles Groves Wright Anderson Charles Groves Wright Anderson VC, MC was a South African-born, Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, a member of the Australian House of Representatives, and a farmer.-Early life:...	Country
Maribyrnong, Vic Division of Maribyrnong The Division of Maribyrnong is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. It is located in the north-western suburbs of Melbourne. It covers the suburbs of Moonee Ponds, Essendon, Niddrie, Keilor East, Avondale Heights, Tullamarine, Airport West, Sunshine and Brooklyn. Due to...		Labor	Arthur Drakeford Arthur Drakeford Arthur Samuel Drakeford was an Australian politician and was the minister responsible for the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II...	16.1	7.5	0.1	Philip Stokes Philip Stokes Philip William Clifford Stokes, OBE was an Australian politician. Born in Melbourne, he attended state schools and then Austral College. He was a bank officer before serving in the military 1940-45. On his return, he was an auctioneer and real estate agent...	Liberal
Perth, WA Division of Perth The Division of Perth is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Western Australia. It is named after Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, where the Division is located...		Labor	Tom Burke	2.3	3.8	1.5	Fred Chaney Fred Chaney, senior Sir Frederick Charles Chaney KBE AFC , was an Australian politician and Minister for the Navy.Chaney was born in Fremantle, Western Australia and educated in state and Catholic schools and gained a scholarship as a result of his sporting ability to attend Christian Brothers' College, Perth...	Liberal
Philip, NSW Division of Phillip The Division of Phillip was an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. It was located in the Sydney's eastern suburbs, and was named after Captain Arthur Phillip, captain of the First Fleet and first Governor of New South Wales...		Labor	Joe Fitzgerald	8.9	5.7	1.1	William Aston William Aston Sir William John Aston, KCMG was an Australian politician. Born in Sydney, he attended state schools before becoming an accountant and company director. He served in World War II from 1942-44, and was involved in local politics as a member of Waverley Council...	Liberal
St George, NSW Division of St George The Division of St George was an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. It was located in the southern suburbs of Sydney, and covered the suburbs of Hurstville, Rockdale and Arncliffe....		Labor	Nelson Lemmon Nelson Lemmon Nelson Lemmon was an Australian politician and government minister. He was responsible for establishing the Snowy Mountains Scheme....	2.7	5.8	3.4	Bill Graham Bill Graham (Australian politician) Bruce William "Bill" Graham, OBE was an Australian politician. Born in Sydney, he was educated at Sydney Grammar School before becoming an announcer on the ABC. He served in the military from 1939 to 1948 and was a company director before entering politics in 1949 as the Liberal member for St...	Liberal

*Robert Joshua
Robert Joshua
Robert Joshua, MC was an Australian politician, and a key figure in the 1955 split in the Australian Labor Party which led to the formation of the Australian Labor Party and, subsequently, the Democratic Labor Party.-Early life:Joshua was born at Prahran, Victoria, to Edward Cecil Joshua, a...

contested his seat as a candidate for the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist)
Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist)
The Australian Labor Party was the name initially used by the right-wing group which split away from the Australian Labor Party in 1955, and which later became the Democratic Labor Party in 1957....

.

History

In 1949, Robert Menzies

Robert Menzies

Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....

founded the Liberal Party of Australia (descended from the United Australia Party

United Australia Party

The United Australia Party was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. It was the political successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia and predecessor to the Liberal Party of Australia...

), which was led by Menzies for 16 years through successive elections with the traditional coalition

Coalition (Australia)

The Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922...

in place with the Country Party

National Party of Australia

The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...

. Labor stayed out of government for 23 years after the defeat of the Chifley

Ben Chifley

Joseph Benedict Chifley , Australian politician, was the 16th Prime Minister of Australia. He took over the Australian Labor Party leadership and Prime Ministership after the death of John Curtin in 1945, and went on to retain government at the 1946 election, before being defeated at the 1949...

government in 1949, largely due to the split of the Democratic Labor Party

Democratic Labor Party (historical)

The Democratic Labor Party was an Australian political party that existed from 1955 until 1978.-History:The DLP was formed as a result of a split in the Australian Labor Party that began in 1954. The split was between the party's national leadership, under the then party leader Dr H.V...

from Labor – also three times the party won the two-party-preferred vote

Two-party-preferred vote

In politics, the two-party-preferred vote , or two-candidate-preferred vote , in an election or opinion poll uses preferential voting to express the electoral result after the distribution of preferences...

(the 1954, 1961 and 1969 elections), but not enough seats to form government. The election saw the peak of the Communist Party

Communist Party of Australia

The Communist Party of Australia was founded in 1920 and dissolved in 1991; it was succeeded by the Socialist Party of Australia, which then renamed itself, becoming the current Communist Party of Australia. The CPA achieved its greatest political strength in the 1940s and faced an attempted...

Senate vote, with 161,869 at 3.64 percent.

Seats changing hands

History

See also