1910 New South Wales state election
← 1907 14 October 1910 (1910-10-14) 1913 →
All 90 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
46 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader James McGowen Charles Wade
Party Labor Electoral League Liberal Reform
Leader since August 1894 2 October 1907
Leader's seat Redfern Gordon
Last election 32 seats 45 seats
Seats won 46 seats 37 seats
Seat change Increase14 Decrease8
Percentage 48.92% 43.03
Swing Increase15.61 Decrease2.88
Legislative Assembly after the election
Premier before election

Charles Wade
Liberal Reform

Elected Premier

James McGowen
Labor

Men and women voters and polling booths, 1910.

The 1910 New South Wales state election was held on 14 October 1910 for all of the 90 seats in the 22nd New South Wales Legislative Assembly and it was conducted in single-member constituencies with a second ballot if a majority was not achieved on the first. Both adult males and females were entitled to vote, but not Indigenous people. The 21st parliament of New South Wales was dissolved on 14 September 1910 by the Governor, Lord Chelmsford, on the advice of the Premier Charles Wade.[1][2][3]

This was the first NSW election using a second ballot system. All previous elections had used a first past the post voting system, where a candidate might be elected with less than 50% of the vote especially where two or more similar candidates split the vote.[a] There were 3 districts that required a second ballot, at Durham and St Leonards where the second round ballot was won by the leading candidate and at Hastings and Macleay where support from the Labour Party saw the independent overtake the sitting Liberal Reform member to take the seat.

The election saw the Labor Electoral League form government for the first time, winning 46 of the 90 seats in the Assembly.

Key dates

Date Event
14 September 1910 The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.[1]
23 September 1910 Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
14 October 1910 Polling day.
15 November 1910 Opening of 22nd Parliament.

Results

See also: Results of the 1910 New South Wales state election

New South Wales state election, 14 October 1910[1]
Legislative Assembly
<< 1907–1913 >>

Enrolled voters 867,695
Votes cast 572,500 Turnout 69.05 +2.33
Informal votes 10,514 Informal 1.80 −1.07
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 280,056 48.92 +15.61 46 +14
  Liberal Reform 246,360 43.03 −2.88 37 −8
  Independent Liberal 33,529 5.86 +0.15 6 +2
  Independent Labor 4,527 0.79 +0.79 0 0
  Farmers and Settlers 4,039 0.71 +0.71 0 0
  Independent 3,989 0.70 −9.45 1 −3
  Former Progressive 0 0.00 −4.75 0 −5
Total 572,500     90  
Popular vote
Labor
 
 48.92%
Liberal Reform
 
 43.03%
Ind. Liberal
 
 5.86%
Independent
 
 0.70%
Others
 
 1.49%
Parliamentary seats
Labor
 
 46
Liberal Reform
 
 37
Ind. Liberal
 
 6
Independent
 
 1

Changing seats

Seats changing hands
Seat 1907 Swing [b] 1910
Party Member Margin [c] Margin [c] Member Party
Belmore   Former Progressive Edward O'Sullivan [d] 39.4 N/A 1.4 Patrick Minahan Labor  
Bingara   Liberal Reform Samuel Moore 23.8 12.2 0.6 George McDonald Labor  
Darling Harbour   Independent John Norton [e] 11.1 N/A 30.8 John Cochran Labor  
The Glebe   Liberal Reform James Hogue 7.8 N/A 1.6 Tom Keegan Labor  
Hastings and Macleay   Liberal Reform Robert Davidson 7.0 N/A 9.8 Henry Morton Independent  
King   Liberal Reform Ernest Broughton [f] 2.8 12.7 9.9 James Morrish Labor  
The Macquarie   Liberal Reform Charles Barton [f] 1.0 6.5 5.5 Thomas Thrower Labor  
Marrickville   Liberal Reform Richard McCoy [f] 29.1 40.1 11.0 Thomas Crawford Labor  
Mudgee   Liberal Reform Robert Jones 11.1 17.6 6.4 Bill Dunn Labor  
The Namoi   Independent Liberal Albert Collins [f] 7.8 N/A 20.6 George Black Labor  
Newcastle   Liberal Reform Owen Gilbert 14.8 24.5 9.8 Arthur Gardiner Labor  
Paddington   Liberal Reform Charles Oakes 13.1 17.3 4.2 John Osborne Labor  
Queanbeyan   Liberal Reform Granville Ryrie [g] 13.6 13.6 2.0 John Cusack Labor  
St Leonards   Independent Edward Clark [h] 28.6 N/A 14.6 Arthur Cocks Liberal Reform  
Surry Hills   Liberal Reform Sir James Graham 23.4 23.4 21.4 Henry Hoyle Labor  
Members changing party
Seat 1907 Swing [b] 1910
Party Member Margin [c] Margin [c] Member Party
Albury   Former Progressive Gordon McLaurin 23.0 -6.0 11.0 Gordon McLaurin Independent Liberal  
Canterbury   Independent Liberal Varney Parkes 15.5 +12.7 11.4 Varney Parkes Liberal Reform  
Durham   Independent Liberal William Brown 1.2 -0.1 1.0 William Brown Liberal Reform  
Gloucester   Independent Richard Price 8.3 +12.6 37.8 Richard Price Liberal Reform  
Maitland   Liberal Reform John Gillies 65.4 -18.8 27.8 John Gillies Independent Liberal  
Phillip   Independent Richard Meagher 13.9 +33.5 53.2 Richard Meagher Labor  
Raleigh   Former Progressive George Briner 37.1 +14.0 56.6 George Briner Independent Liberal  
Randwick   Liberal Reform David Storey 52.0 -16.6 18.8 David Storey Independent Liberal  
Tamworth   Former Progressive Robert Levien 23.5 +0.9 21.8 Robert Levien Independent Liberal  
Waverley   Independent Liberal James Macarthur-Onslow 7.5 +4.0 14.9 James Macarthur-Onslow Liberal Reform  
Wynyard   Former Progressive Robert Donaldson 15.6 -6.8 2.0 Robert Donaldson Independent Liberal  

The Upper Hunter had been won by William Fleming (Liberal Reform) at the 1907 election, however he resigned to contest the seat of New England at the 1910 federal election. The by-election in April 1910 was won by William Ashford (Labor) however Henry Willis regained the seat for Liberal Reform at the general election.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ For example Leichhardt at the 1907 election where the Liberal vote was split between the endorsed candidate and an independent Liberal, with Labor taking the seat with 44.2% of the vote.
  2. ^ a b Swing is calculated using the Butler method, being the average of the change in votes of the successful party in 1907 and the successful party in 1910. Where both parties did not contest both elections, the swing is N/A
  3. ^ a b c d Margin is calculated as the difference in vote percentage between the successful party and the second party.
  4. ^ Edward O'Sullivan had won Belmore at the 1907 election as a Former Progressive, however he joined the Labor Party in 1909 and died in April 1910. The by-election in May 1910 was won by Patrick Minahan (Labor) who retained the seat at the 1910 general election.
  5. ^ John Norton had won Darling Harbour at the 1907 election, however he resigned to stand as a Senator for NSW at the 1910 federal election. The by-election in April 1910 was won by John Cochran (Labor) who retained the seat at the 1910 general election.
  6. ^ a b c d Did not stand for re-election
  7. ^ Granville Ryrie had won Queanbeyan at the 1907 election, however he resigned to contest the seat of Werriwa at the 1910 federal election. The by-election in April 1910 was won by John Cusack (Labor) who retained the seat at the 1910 general election.
  8. ^ Edward Clark was defeated in the first round of voting

References

  1. ^ a b c Green, Antony. "1910 election totals". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  2. ^ "Part 5B alphabetical list of all electorates and Members since 1856" (PDF). NSW Parliamentary Record. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Former members of the New South Wales Parliament, 1856–2006". New South Wales Parliament. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
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