Elections were held in the Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n state

States and territories of Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a union of six states and various territories. The Australian mainland is made up of five states and three territories, with the sixth state of Tasmania being made up of islands. In addition there are six island territories, known as external territories, and a...

 of Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 on 19 May 1956 to elect the 75 members of the state's Legislative Assembly

Queensland Legislative Assembly

The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...

. The Labor

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...

 government was seeking its ninth continuous term in office since the 1932 election

Queensland state election, 1932

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 11 June 1932 to elect the 62 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.The election was the first electoral test of the Country and Progressive National Party government led by Arthur Edward Moore, and was held in the midst of the Great...

; it would be Vince Gair

Vince Gair

Vincent Clare "Vince" Gair was an Australian politician. He served as Premier of Queensland from 1952 until 1957, when his stormy relations with the trade union movement saw him expelled from the Australian Labor Party. He was elected to the Australian Senate and led the Democratic Labor Party...

's second election as Premier.

Key dates

Date	Event
17 April 1956	The Parliament was dissolved.
17 April 1956	Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
27 April 1956	Close of nominations.
19 May 1956	Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
26 May 1956	Polling day in the seat of Warrego Electoral district of Warrego The district of Warrego is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.The electorate lies in the extreme southwest of Queensland, running along the western part of the border with New South Wales... , delayed due to absence of the presiding officer.
28 May 1956	The Gair Ministry Gair Ministry The Gair Ministry was a ministry of the Government of Queensland and was led by Labor Premier Vince Gair. It succeeded the Hanlon Ministry on 17 January 1952 following Ned Hanlon's death two days earlier...  was re-sworn in.
2 June 1956	Polling day in the seat of Tablelands Electoral district of Tablelands Tablelands was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.Prior to its abolition, it encompassed towns on the Atherton Tablelands west of Cairns, including Mareeba, Atherton, Ravenshoe, Chillagoe and Mount Molloy. The seat was won by the One Nation Party... , delayed due to floods.
30 June 1956	The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
31 July 1956	Parliament resumed for business.

Results

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775,258 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 6 seats representing 62,750 enrolled voters were unopposed: three Country seats (28,062 voters), two Liberal seats (23,119 voters) and one Labor seat (11,569 voters).

Aftermath

This was to be Labor's last successful election until the 1989 election. On 18 April 1957, the Queensland Central Executive of the Labor Party passed a vote of no confidence in Premier Gair, and on 24 April, despite having gained a unanimous vote of support from the Cabinet, he was expelled from the Labor Party. On 26 April, Gair convened a meeting of 25 MLAs, including all of the Cabinet except Deputy Premier John Duggan and two ex-Labor Independents, and formed the Queensland Labor Party

Queensland Labor Party

The Queensland Labor Party was a political party of Queensland, Australia formed in 1957 by a breakaway group of the then ruling Australian Labor Party Government after the expulsion of Premier Vince Gair...

 (QLP) with those present, while the 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...

 moved to the opposition benches. All these were also expelled from the party. The resulting government was denied supply in parliament, and an election was called

Queensland state election, 1957

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 3 August 1957 to elect the 75 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The major parties contesting the election were the Queensland Labor Party led by Premier Vince Gair, the Australian Labor Party led by former Deputy Premier John...

 for 3 August, at which the QLP government and the Labor Party were defeated by the Country

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...

-Liberal

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...

 coalition led by Frank Nicklin

Frank Nicklin

Sir George Francis Reuben Nicklin, KCMG, MM was Premier of the Australian state of Queensland from 1957 to 1968, and the first Country Party Premier since 1932.-Early life and career:...

.

See also

• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1953–1956
  Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1953–1956
  This is a list of members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1953 to 1956, as elected at the 1953 state election:-See also:*Queensland state election, 1953*Gair Ministry -References:...
  
  
• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1956–1957
  Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1956–1957
  This is a list of members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 19 May 1956 to 3 August 1957, as elected at the 1956 state election. The term was cut short by a split within the governing Australian Labor Party—the Premier, Vince Gair, and all but one of his ministers were expelled from the...
  
  
• Candidates of the Queensland state election, 1956
  Candidates of the Queensland state election, 1956
  This is a list of candidates who stood for the 1956 Queensland state election. The election was held on 19 May 1956.The main parties in the election were the Labor Party, led by Premier Vince Gair, the Country Party, led by Leader of the Opposition Frank Nicklin, and the Liberal Party, led by...
  
  
• Gair Ministry
  Gair Ministry
  The Gair Ministry was a ministry of the Government of Queensland and was led by Labor Premier Vince Gair. It succeeded the Hanlon Ministry on 17 January 1952 following Ned Hanlon's death two days earlier...