Sturt, an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, had two incarnations, from 1889 until 1968 and from 1971 until 1981.[1] [2]
| Election | Member | Party | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1889 | Wyman Brown | |||||||||
| 1891 | John Cann | |||||||||
| 1894 | William Ferguson | |||||||||
| 1895 | ||||||||||
| 1898 | ||||||||||
| 1901 | / | |||||||||
| 1904 | Arthur Griffith | |||||||||
| 1907 | ||||||||||
| 1908 by | ||||||||||
| 1910 | ||||||||||
| 1913 | John Cann | |||||||||
| 1917 by | Percy Brookfield | / | ||||||||
| 1917 | Member | Party | Member | Party | ||||||
| 1920 | Percy Brookfield --> | Mat Davidson | Brian Doe | |||||||
| 1921 Appt | Jabez Wright | |||||||||
| 1922 | ||||||||||
| 1922 Appt | Ted Horsington | |||||||||
| 1925 | ||||||||||
| 1927 | Ted Horsington | --> | ||||||||
| 1930 | ||||||||||
| 1932 | ||||||||||
| 1935 | ||||||||||
| 1938 | / / | |||||||||
| 1941 | ||||||||||
| 1944 | ||||||||||
| 1947 | William Wattison | |||||||||
| 1950 | ||||||||||
| 1953 | ||||||||||
| 1956 | ||||||||||
| 1959 | ||||||||||
| 1962 | ||||||||||
| 1965 | ||||||||||
| Election | Member | Party | ||||||||
| 1971 | Tim Fischer | |||||||||
| 1973 | ||||||||||
| 1976 | ||||||||||
| 1978 | ||||||||||
| 1981 by | John Sullivan | |||||||||
District abolished
Jabez Wright died on 10 September 1922.[3] Ted Horsington was the only unsuccessful Labor candidate at the 1922 election and took his seat on 20 September 1922.[4]
On 22 March 1921 Percy Brookfield was murdered while trying to disarm a deranged man at Riverton.[5] Between 1920 and 1927 the Legislative Assembly was elected using a form of proportional representation with multi-member seats and a single transferable vote (modified Hare-Clark). The Parliamentary Elections (Casual Vacancies) Act,[6] provided that casual vacancies were filled by the next unsuccessful candidate "who represents the same party interest as the late member". Which party interest Brookfield represented was not straightforward. He had been the Labor member for Sturt since the 1917 by-election, however he resigned from the Labor Party in August 1919,[7] and joined the Industrial Socialist Labor Party, which in January 1920 merged with the Socialist Labor Party, retaining the later name. Under this banner Brookfield was the first candidate elected at the 1920 election for Sturt.[8] He was however dissatisfied with the manner in which the affairs of that party have been carried on" and formed a new Industrial Labor Party in February 1921, shortly before his death.[9] There was debate concerning who should be appointed. The Industrial Labor Party said that John O'Reilly should be appointed, while The Sydney Morning Herald stated that Thomas Hynes had the greater number of primary votes and thus he should be appointed.[10] The nomination had to come from the recognised party leader according to votes on any censure motion and Labor leader John Storey nominated Jabez Wright.[11] [12]