1904 New South Wales state election

Colonial election for New South Wales, Australia in August 1904

1904 New South Wales state election

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| <- 1901 | 6 August 1904 (1904-8-6) | 1907 ->

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|

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All 90 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
46 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
|  | First party  | Second party  | Third party

|
|
|

|  |  |
Leader  | Sir Joseph Carruthers | James McGowen | Thomas Waddell
Party  | Liberal Reform | Labor Electoral League | Progressive
Leader since  | 18 September 1902  | August 1894  | 15 June 1904
Leader's seat  | St George | Redfern | Cowra (contesting Belubula)
Last election  | 37 seats  | 24 seats  | 42 seats
Seats won  | 45 seats  | 25 seats  | 16 seats
Seat change  | 8  | 1  | 26
Percentage  | 44.58%  | 23.30%  | 18.98%
Swing  | 11.03  | 4.86  | 4.01

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Legislative Assembly after the election

* * *

| Premier before election

Thomas Waddell
Progressive

| Elected Premier

Sir Joseph Carruthers
Liberal Reform

|

The 1904 New South Wales state election was held on 6 August 1904 for all of the 90 seats in the 20th New South Wales Legislative Assembly and it was conducted in single-member constituencies with a first past the post voting system. For the first time, women were entitled to vote. Both adult males and females were entitled to vote, but not Indigenous people. The 19th parliament of New South Wales was dissolved on 16 July 1904 by the Governor, Sir Harry Rawson, on the advice of the Premier, Thomas Waddell.[1][2][3]

This election saw the size of the Legislative Assembly reduced from 125 to 90 seats as a result of the 1903 New South Wales referendum.[4]

## Key dates

[edit]

Date  | Event

|

16 July 1904  | The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
26 July 1904  | Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
6 August 1904  | Polling day.
23 August 1904  | Opening of 20th Parliament.
29 August 1904  | Carruthers ministry sworn in.

## Results

[edit]

Main article: Results of the 1904 New South Wales state election

New South Wales state election, 6 August 1904 [1]
Legislative Assembly
<< 1901–1907 >>

Enrolled voters  | 689,490  |  |
Votes cast  | 396,622  |  | Turnout | 59.31  | −3.53
Informal votes  | 3,973  |  | Informal  | 0.99  | +0.21
Summary of votes by party
Party  | Primary votes  | %  | Swing  | Seats  | Change
| Liberal Reform | 176,796  | 44.58  | +11.03  | 45 | +8
| Labour | 92,426  | 23.30  | +4.86  | 25  | +1
| Progressive | 75,297  | 18.98  | −4.01  | 16  | −26
| Independent | 25,605  | 6.46  | −4.62  | 2  | −10
| Independent Liberal | 21,189  | 5.34  | −3.26  | 2  | −2
| Other  | 5,309  | 1.34  | −4.01  | 0  | −6
Total  |  |  |  | 90  | -35

| Popular vote

|  |
Liberal Reform |

| 44.58%
Labor |

| 23.30%
Progressive |

| 18.98%
Independent |

| 6.46%
Ind. Liberal |

| 5.34%
Others |

| 1.34%
Parliamentary seats
Liberal Reform |

| 45
Labor |

| 25
Progressive |

| 16
Independent |

| 2
Ind. Liberal |

| 2

## Retiring members

[edit]

This section is an excerpt from Candidates of the 1904 New South Wales state election § Retiring members.[edit]

Orange Liberal MLA Harry Newman died on 1 June. Deniliquin Independent MLA Joseph Evans died on 5 July. Due to the proximity of the election, no by-elections were held.

### Progressive

[edit]

* Albert Chapman MLA (Braidwood)
* William Davis MLA (Bourke)
* James Gormly MLA (Wagga Wagga) — appointed to the Legislative Council.[5]
* James Hayes MLA (Murray) — appointed to the Legislative Council.[5]
* William Hurley MLA (Macquarie) — appointed to the Legislative Council.[5]
* Daniel O'Connor MLA (Sydney-Phillip)
* Sir John See MLA (Grafton) — appointed to the Legislative Council.[5]

### Liberal

[edit]

* Samuel Whiddon MLA (Sydney-Cook)

### Labor

[edit]

* John Power MLA (Sydney-Lang) — lost preselection

### Independent

[edit]

* Frank Byrne MLA (Hay)
* Thomas Griffith MLA (Albury)
* Edward Terry MLA (Ryde)

## See also

[edit]

* Candidates of the 1904 New South Wales state election
* Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, 1904–1907

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Green, Antony. "1904 Totals". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 30 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.
4. ^ "1904 Redistribution". Atlas of New South Wales. NSW Land & Property Information. Archived from the original on 23 June 2015.
5. ^ a b c d "Government Gazette Notices". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. No. 340\. 21 June 1904. p. 4935. Retrieved 16 December 2019 - via Trove.

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