Candidates of the 1949 Australian federal election explained

This article provides information on candidates who stood for the 1949 Australian federal election. The election was held on 10 December 1949.

Both the House of Representatives and the Senate were expanded at this election. All seats are designated as held by the party that held the notional majority after the redistribution.

By-elections, appointments and defections

Defections

• In 1949, Labor MP Max Falstein (Watson) lost endorsement for the election. He was expelled from the Labor Party and sat as an Independent.
• At the previous election, Charles Davidson had been jointly endorsed by the Liberal and Country parties to contest the seat of Capricornia, and had caucused with the Liberals in parliament. In 1949, he was endorsed instead by the Country Party to contest the new seat of Dawson, and subsequently sat as a Country Party member.

Redistributions and seat changes

• Due to the expansion of the House, redistributions of electoral boundaries occurred in all states.
  • In New South Wales, nineteen new seats were created: the notionally Labor seats of Banks, Cunningham, Evans, Grayndler, Kingsford-Smith, Lawson, Lowe, Mitchell, Paterson, Phillip, Shortland and St George; the notionally Liberal seats of Bennelong, Bradfield, Macarthur and Mackellar; the notionally Country seats of Farrer and Lyne; and the notionally Lang Labor seat of Blaxland. The Liberal-held seat of North Sydney and the Lang Labor-held seat of Reid became notionally Labor.
    • The member for Martin, Fred Daly (Labor), contested Grayndler.
    • The member for North Sydney, Billy Hughes (Liberal), contested Bradfield.
    • The member for Reid, Jack Lang (Lang Labor), contested Blaxland.
    • The member for West Sydney, William O'Connor (Labor), contested Martin.
  • In Victoria, the Independent-held seat Bourke was renamed Burke, and became notionally Labor. Thirteen new seats were created: the notionally Labor seats of Darebin, Gellibrand, Hoddle, Lalor and Wills; the notionally Liberal seats of Chisholm, Higgins, Higinbotham, Isaacs and La Trobe; and the notionally Country seats of Mallee, McMillan and Murray. The Liberal-held seat of Fawkner and the Country-held seat of Bendigo became notionally Labor.
    • The member for Ballaarat, Reg Pollard (Labor), contested Lalor.
    • The member for Bendigo, George Rankin (Country), contested the Senate.
    • The member for Bourke, Doris Blackburn (Independent Labor), contested Wills.
    • The member for Fawkner, Harold Holt (Liberal), contested Higgins.
    • The member for Indi, John McEwen (Country, contested Murray.
    • The member for Wimmera, Winton Turnbull (Country), contested Mallee.
  • In Queensland, eight new seats were created: the notionally Labor seats of Bowman, Dawson and Leichhardt; the notionally Liberal seats of McPherson, Oxley, Petrie and Ryan; and the notionally Country seat of Fisher. The Labor-held seats of Griffith and Lilley became notionally Liberal.
    • The member for Capricornia, Charles Davidson (Country), contested Dawson.
    • The member for Darling Downs, Arthur Fadden (Country), contested McPherson, as part of a Coalition agreement that allocated Darling Downs to the Liberal Party.
    • The member for Maranoa, Charles Adermann (Country), contested Fisher.
  • In Western Australia, three new seats were created: the notionally Labor seat of Curtin; and the notionally Country seats of Canning and Moore. The Country-held seat of Swan became notionally Labor.
    • The member for Swan, Len Hamilton (Country), contested Canning.
  • In South Australia, four new seats were created: the notionally Labor seats of Kingston, Port Adelaide and Sturt; and the notionally Liberal seat of Angas. The Labor-held seat of Boothby became notionally Liberal.
    • The member for Boothby, Thomas Sheehy (Labor), contested Kingston.
    • The member for Hindmarsh, Albert Thompson (Labor), contested Port Adelaide.
  • There were minimal changes in Tasmania.
  • A new seat was created for the Australian Capital Territory.

Retiring Members and Senators

Labor

• Frank Brennan (Batman, Vic)
• Frank Gaha MP (Denison, Tas)
• James Scullin MP (Yarra, Vic)
• Senator Joe Collings (Qld)

Liberal

• William Hutchinson MP (Deakin, Vic)

Country

• Joe Abbott MP (New England, NSW)

House of Representatives

Sitting members at the time of the election are shown in bold text. Successful candidates are highlighted in the relevant colour. Where there is possible confusion, an asterisk (*) is also used.

New South Wales

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Coalition candidate	Other candidates
				Howard Fletcher (Lib)	Francis Foy (LL)
			H. V. Evatt	Nancy Wake (Lib)
		Raymond Watt		John Cramer (Lib)
				Thomas Handran-Smith (Lib)	Roy Kirby (CPA) Jack Lang (LL)
				Billy Hughes (Lib)	Edward Price (Ind)
				John Howse (Lib)
			Tom Sheehan	Gerald Davis (Lib)	John Eldridge (LL) Mervyn Pidcock (CPA)
		Louis Jabour		Sir Earle Page (CP)
				Alan Thomson (Lib)	Eric Aarons (CPA)
			Sol Rosevear	Charles Shields (Lib)
			Joe Clark	Elson Whyte (CP)	Cecil Connors (CPA) Madge Roberts (Ind)
			Eddie Ward	John Mant (Lib)	William Dalton (Ind)
			Allan Fraser	Denzil Macarthur-Onslow (Lib)
		Ronald Nicholls		Frederick Osborne (Lib)
		Thomas McGrath		David Fairbairn (Lib) John Mackay (CP)	Bill Gollan (CPA)
			Fred Daly	Donald Clark (Lib)	William McCristal (RP) Henry McPhillips (CPA)
		William Scully		Thomas Treloar (CP)
		Arthur Fuller		Charles Anderson (CP)
			Rowley James	Ted Fletcher (Lib)	Evan Phillips (CPA)
				Charles de Monchaux (Lib)	Henry Crittenden (Ind) Clare Peters (Ind)
			Dan Mulcahy	Eric Willis (Lib)	Roy Boyd (CPA)
		Alan Manning		Elwyn Croft (Lib) Laurie Failes* (CP)	William Ferguson (Ind)
		Hector McDonald		William McMahon (Lib)	Edith Shortland (Ind Lib)
		Edward Hayes		Jim Eggins (CP) Francis Hain (CP) Philip Lucock (CP) Eric Mackay (CP)	Joe Cordner (Ind)
		William McDonnell		Jeff Bate (Lib)
		James Mitchell		Bill Wentworth (Lib)
			Ben Chifley	Bob Cotton (Lib)	John King (CPA)
			William O'Connor	Frederick Mann (Lib)	Tom Dowling (CPA) Malinda Ivey (Ind) Frank Moss (LL)
		Joseph White		Roy Wheeler (Lib)
		William Wilson		David Drummond (CP) Donald Shand (CP)
			David Watkins	Harry Quinlan (Lib)	Laurie Aarons (CPA) Grahame Bland (Ind)
		Leo Haylen		William Jack (Lib)	Norman Ferguson (LL) Patrick Williams (Ind)
			Les Haylen	Dick Dein (Lib)
		Clement Jackson		Howard Beale (Lib)
		Cecil Robinson		Robert Clendinning (CP) Arie Dorsman (CP) Allen Fairhall* (Lib) Greg McGirr (CP) Ernest Slater (CP)
				William Latimer (Lib)	Jessie Street (Ind)
				Jim Clough (Lib)	Rupert Sheldon (LL)
		Alexander Bryen		Larry Anthony (CP)
		Joe Langtry		Hugh Roberton (CP)	William Mitchell (CPA)
		Thomas Williams		Roger Dean (Lib)
				Harold Daisley (Lib)	Alfred Boa (Ind) Isabel Longworth (Ind) Eugene Marshall (CPA)
		Joseph Nicholson		Bill Graham (Lib)
				Percy Spender (Lib)	Norman Chadwick (Ind Lab) Bill Fisher (Ind Lab)
				Stanley Card (Lib)	Max Falstein (Ind Lab) Harold O'Reilly (LL)
		William McKell		Eric Harrison (Lib)
			Bert Lazzarini	Ray Watson (Lib)
				Basil Mottershead (Lib)	Horace Foley (LL) Stan Moran (CPA)

Queensland

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Coalition candidate	Communist candidate	Independent candidates
				Malcolm McColm (Lib)	Mabel Hanson
			George Lawson	James Long (Lib)	Alby Graham
				George Pearce (Lib)	Ted Robertson
				Reginald Swartz (Lib)	Raymond Mullaly	Charles Farquharson Charles Lacaze
		George Burns		Charles Davidson (CP)	Richard Andrew
		Edmund Roberts		Charles Adermann (CP)		Norman Logan
		William Conelan		Doug Berry (Lib)	Anna Slater
			Bill Edmonds	Doug Jeffrey (CP)	Jim Henderson
			Bill Riordan	Ulick Browne (CP)	Eric Wyper
		Cecil Holdcroft		Tom Gilmore (CP)	Ralph Leinster	Leslie Keough Thomas Mackey
		Jim Hadley		Bruce Wight (Lib)
		Martin Laracy		Charles Russell (CP)
		John Hilton		Arthur Fadden (CP)
		William Thieme		Josiah Francis (Lib)	Bill Yarrow
				Donald Cameron (Lib) John Martin (CP)	Edmund Crisp
		Samuel Martin		Alan Hulme (Lib)		James Ryan
				Nigel Drury (Lib)
		Samuel Round		Bernard Corser (CP)		Robert McDowell

South Australia

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Liberal candidate	Other candidates
			Cyril Chambers	Basil Harford	Christopher Doherty (Ind) Elsie Watt (CPA)
		Albert Strachan			Ralph Whittle (Ind)
		John Klar		Archie Cameron	John Gartner (Ind)
		Ralph Wells
			Edgar Russell	Edward Andrews
				Albert Turnbull
		Thomas Sheehy
			Albert Thompson	Frederick Boscombe	Peter Symon (CPA)
		Leslie McMullin			Leonard Smith (Ind)
		Cyril Hasse		Philip McBride

Tasmania

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Liberal candidate
		Claude Barnard		Bruce Kekwick
		Harold Kirkpatrick		Dame Enid Lyons
				Athol Townley
				Bill Falkinder
			Gil Duthie	Rickman Furmage

Victoria

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Coalition candidate	Other candidates
		Martin Dunne		Thomas White (Lib)
				Alan Pittard (Lib)
				Neil McKay (Lib)
				Thomas Grigg (Lib)	Allan Goodman (Ind)
				Alfred Wall (Lib)	Henry Hodges (Ind) James Whitworth (Ind)
				Wilfrid Kent Hughes (Lib)	Bill Tregear (CPA)
		Henry Stacpoole		Allan McDonald (Lib)	Elsie Brushfield (Ind)
		John Dedman		Hubert Opperman (Lib)
				Jack McColl (Lib)
		Rod Leeson		Frank Davis (Lib)
				Magnus Cormack (Lib)
		Robert Wilson		Rupert Ryan (Lib)	Andrew Hughes (Ind Lab)
				William Massey (Lib)	William Anderson (Ind) John Arrowsmith (CPA) Angus Macdonald (Ind Lab)
		Horace Hawkins		George Bowden (CP)
				Jo Gullett (Lib)	Charles Dicker (LL)
		Jules Meltzer		Harold Holt (Lib)
				Frank Timson (Lib)
				Terence Kirby (Lib)	Leslie Loye (CPA) Albert Wallace (Ind)
		Charles Edmondson		William Bostock (Lib) Clive Nason (CP)
				William Haworth (Lib)
				Robert Menzies (Lib)
		Robert Balcombe		Richard Casey (Lib)
			Reg Pollard	John Bellair (Lib)
		Alfred O'Connor		Winton Turnbull (CP)
			Arthur Drakeford	George Hannan (Lib)	Colin Neyland (Ind)
		Adam Keltie		Geoffrey Brown (Lib) Bob May (CP)	Bob Hamilton (CPA)
			Arthur Calwell	Desmond McGinnes (Lib)	Charles McLaren (Ind) Niven Neyland (PCD) Gerry O'Day (CPA) Philip Wilson (ALPN)
			Jack Holloway	Frank Block (Lib)
		Desmond Devlin		John McEwen (CP)
		Don McLeod		Dan Mackinnon (Lib) Helena Marfell (CP)
				Allan Tyrer (Lib)	Doris Blackburn (Ind Lab)
		Cyril Sudholz		William Lawrence (Lib) Harrie Wade (CP)
				Charles Barrington (Lib)	John Prescott (CPA) Wenham Vines (Ind)

Western Australia

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Coalition candidate	Other candidates
		Thomas Scaddan		William Gillespie (Lib) Len Hamilton* (CP)	Arthur Neville (Ind CP)
		William Lonnie		Paul Hasluck (Lib)
		Nelson Lemmon		Gordon Freeth (Lib) Arnold Potts (CP)	James Bolitho (Ind)
			Kim Beazley	Billy Snedden (Lib)	Paddy Troy (CPA)
			Herbert Johnson	John Porteus (Lib)
		Kevin Byrne		Ken Jones (Lib) Hugh Leslie* (CP)
			Tom Burke	Gordon Hack (Lib)	James Collins (Ind) James Kelly (CPA)
				Bill Grayden (Lib)

Senate

Sitting Senators are shown in bold text. The Senate was expanded at this election, with each state now allocated ten senators instead of six. Each state elected seven senators, two of whom were elected to short-term vacancies. This was also the first occasion where the Senate was elected using proportional representation. Tickets that elected at least one Senator are highlighted in the relevant colour. Successful candidates are identified by an asterisk (*).

New South Wales

Seven seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending three seats. Four seats were newly created. Labor Senators James Arnold, Bill Ashley and William Large were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	Coalition candidates	Communist candidates	Freedom candidates	FDP candidates	PPP candidates
valign=top	John Armstrong Donald Grant Stan Amour Patrick Grace	valign=top	Bill Spooner (Lib) Albert Reid (CP) John McCallum (Lib) John Tate (Lib)	valign=top	Edgar Ross Adam Ogston Joe Bailes Freda Brown	valign=top	Alexander Huie John Owen Lionel Willis	valign=top	George McDonald Clem Turnbull	valign=top	Ronald Sarina Jonno Hodgson
PSJP candidates	Ungrouped candidates
valign=top	Peter Pollack George Jameson	valign=top	Frederick Roberts Edward Harding	valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top

Queensland

Seven seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending three seats. Four seats were newly created. Liberal Senators Neil O'Sullivan and Annabelle Rankin and Country Party Senator Walter Cooper were not up for re-election.

South Australia

Seven seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending three seats. Four seats were newly created. Labor Senators Fred Beerworth, Jack Critchley and Frederick Ward were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	Liberal candidates	Communist candidates	PPP candidates	ESWD candidates	Group D candidates
valign=top	Sid O'Flaherty Theo Nicholls Alex Finlay John Ryan	valign=top	Ted Mattner George McLeay Clive Hannaford Frank Chapman	valign=top	Alan Finger Alf Watt John Sendy	valign=top	Hector Mackay James McNicoll	valign=top	Charles Johnson Lawrence McKenzie George Reval	valign=top	Albert Smith Charles Lloyd John Williams
Ungrouped candidates
valign=top	Charles Armbruster Edmund Craig Frank Halleday Frank Rieck Mary Smith George Edwin Yates	valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top

Tasmania

Seven seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending three seats. Four seats were newly created. Labor Senators Bill Morrow, Reg Murray and Justin O'Byrne were not up for re-election.

Victoria

Seven seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending three seats. Four seats were newly created. Labor Senators Bert Hendrickson, Fred Katz and Charles Sandford were not up for re-election.

Western Australia

Seven seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending three seats. Four seats were newly created. Labor Senators Joe Cooke, John Harris and Dorothy Tangney were not up for re-election.

Summary by party

Beside each party is the candidates put forward by that party in the House of Representatives for each state, as well as an indication of whether the party contested Senate elections in each state.

Party	NSW		Vic		Qld		WA		SA		Tas		ACT	NT	Total
	HR	S	HR	S	HR	S	HR	S	HR	S	HR	S	HR	HR	HR	S
Australian Labor Party	46		33		18		8		10		5		1	1	122	6
Liberal Party of Australia	39		30		10		8		10		5		1		103	6
Australian Country Party	18		7		9		3								37	4
Communist Party of Australia	14		6		11		2		2						35	6
Lang Labor	8		2												10
Republican Party	1														1
Protestant People's Party																5
Freedom Party																1
Fair Deal Party																1
People's Social Justice Party																1
Henry George League																1
Independent British Israel																1
Individualist																1
All Parties Administration																1
Ex-Servicemen and Women and Dependents																1
Independent and other	17		13		7		3		4				2	2	48

See also

• 1949 Australian federal election
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1946–1949
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1949–1951
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1947–1950
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1950–1951
• List of political parties in Australia

References

• Adam Carr's Election Archive - House of Representatives 1949
• Adam Carr's Election Archive - Senate 1949