1955 Victorian state election

Technopedia Center

Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science
S1 Informatics S1 Information Systems S1 Information Technology S1 Computer Engineering S1 Electrical Engineering S1 Civil Engineering

faculty of Economics and Business
S1 Management S1 Accountancy

Faculty of Letters and Educational Sciences
S1 English literature S1 English language education S1 Mathematics education S1 Sports Education

1955 Victorian state election - Wikipedia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1955 Victorian state election

← 1952

28 May 1955 (1955-05-28)

1958 →

65 (of the 66) seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly
34 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party

Leader	Henry Bolte	John Cain
Party	Liberal and Country	Labor
Leader since	3 June 1953	19 October 1937
Leader's seat	Hampden	Northcote
Last election	11 seats	37 seats
Seats won	33 seats	20 seats
Seat change	22	17
Popular vote	487,408	420,197
Percentage	37.78%	32.57%
Swing	12.93	16.50
TPP	57.92%	42.08%
TPP swing	14.64	14.64

	Third party	Fourth party
		(A-C)
Leader	Herbert Hyland	Bill Barry
Party	Country	Labor (A-C)
Leader since	20 April 1955	April 1955
Leader's seat	Gippsland South	Carlton
Last election	12 seats	New party
Seats won	11 seats	1 seat
Seat change	1	1
Popular vote	122,999	162,660
Percentage	9.53%	12.61%
Swing	1.19	12.61

Premier before election

John Cain
Labor

Elected Premier

Henry Bolte
Liberal and Country

The 1955 Victorian state election was held in the Australian State of Victoria on Saturday, 28 May 1955 to elect 65 (of the 66) members of the state's Legislative Assembly.

The incumbent Labor Party Government was defeated by the Liberal and Country Party (LCP) led by Henry Bolte with a swing of 14.6%.

Background

John Cain had led the Labor Party in Victoria since 1937, and had been Premier since defeating John McDonald's Country Party government at the 1952 election, forming the first majority Labor government in Victoria's history.

The leader of the opposition Liberal and Country Party, Trevor Oldham, had died on 2 May 1953 in a plane crash on his way to attend the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Oldham's deputy, Henry Bolte, succeeded him a few days later.

The election was triggered by events related to the Australian Labor Party split of 1955, in which followers of B. A. Santamaria's "Movement"—Catholic, anti-Communist, right-aligned members of the Labor Party—were accused by federal leader H. V. Evatt of contributing to his loss of the 1954 federal election to Robert Menzies. The federal executive set about expelling "disloyal" members who supported the Movement.

In the Victorian parliament, the anti-Communists were known as the Barry–Coleman group after the leaders of the faction: Bill Barry in the Legislative Assembly and Les Coleman in the Legislative Council. In April 1955, Barry and Coleman wrote to Cain requesting a unity conference, but the request was rejected, with Cain telling the group that they could only achieve unity within the ALP, by accepting the authority of the Labor federal conference and executive, and the Victorian central executive.^[1]

On the night of 19 April, Bolte moved a motion of no-confidence against Cain's government in the Legislative Assembly. In the early hours of 20 April, following a twelve-hour debate, eleven anti-Communist Labor members crossed the floor to support Bolte's motion. With his government defeated, Cain sought and received a dissolution of parliament later that day.^[2]^[3]

Key dates

Date	Event
20 April 1955	The Cain government was defeated in the Victorian Legislative Assembly by a motion of no-confidence.^[2]
22 April 1955	The Parliament was prorogued, and the Legislative Assembly dissolved.^[4]
26 April 1955	Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.^[4]
6 May 1955	Close of nominations.^[4]
28 May 1955	Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
7 June 1955	Interim Bolte Ministry was sworn in.^[5]
8 June 1955	The remainder of the Bolte Ministry was sworn in.^[6]
15 June 1955	The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
15 June 1955	Parliament resumed for business.^[7]

Results

Legislative Assembly

Victorian state election, 28 May 1955^[8]^[9] Legislative Assembly << 1952–1958 >>
Enrolled voters		1,402,588
Votes cast		1,318,934		Turnout	94.02	+0.44
Informal votes		28,955		Informal	2.19	+0.38
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Liberal and Country	487,408	37.78	+12.93	33	+22
	Labor	420,197	32.57	−16.50	20	−17
	Labor (A-C)	162,660	12.61	+12.61	1	+1
	Country	122,999	9.53	+1.19	11	−1
	Independent	45,570	3.53	−3.38	1	±0
	Victorian Liberal	44,692	3.46	−6.13	0	−4
	Communist	4,589	0.35	−0.88	0	±0
	Henry George Justice	1,864	0.14	+0.14	0	±0
Total		1,289,979			66
Two-party-preferred
	Liberal and Country	755,917	57.9	+14.6
	Labor	549,233	42.1	–14.6

Notes:

The seat of Gippsland South was retained uncontested by Sir Herbert Hyland for the Country Party. Figures for enrolled voters and ballots cast are for contested seats only.
The Victorian Liberal Party contested the previous election as the Electoral Reform League. The party was formed by a group of disaffected former Liberal and Country Party members who followed Thomas Hollway when he was expelled from the L&CP.

References

^ "Labor split widens CAIN SNUBS BARRY MEN; POLL 'SURE'". The Argus (FINAL ed.). Melbourne. 16 April 1955. p. 5. Retrieved 10 April 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
^ ^a ^b "Victorian Govt. Defeated; Election On May 28". The Central Queensland Herald. Rockhampton, Qld. 21 April 1955. p. 6. Retrieved 10 April 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
^ Ainsley Symons (2012), 'Democratic Labor Party members in the Victorian Parliament of 1955–1958,' in Recorder (Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, Melbourne Branch) No. 275, November, Pages 4-5.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Discharging members of the Legislative Council from attendance and dissolving the Legislative Assembly". Victoria Government Gazette. Victorian Government Printer. 22 April 1955. p. 1955:1807.
^ "Ministers of the Crown". Victoria Government Gazette. Victorian Government Printer. 7 June 1955. p. 1955:2803.
^ "Ministers of the Crown". Victoria Government Gazette. Victorian Government Printer. 8 June 1955. p. 1955:2845.
^ "Fixing the time for holding the first session of the forty-second Parliament of Victoria". Victoria Government Gazette. Victorian Government Printer. 27 July 1961. p. 1955:2585.
^ Election held on 28 May 1955, Australian Politics and Elections Database (University of Western Australia).
^ Colin A Hughes, A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1890–1964, Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1968 (ISBN 0708102700).

v t e Elections and referendums in Victoria
General elections	1856 1859 1861 1864 1866 1868 1871 1874 1877 1880 (Feb) 1880 (Jul) 1883 1886 1889 1892 1894 1897 1900 1902 1904 1907 1908 1911 1914 1917 1920 1921 1924 1927 1929 1932 1935 1937 1940 1943 1945 1947 1950 1952 1955 1958 1961 1964 1967 1970 1973 1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1992 1996 1999 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026
Legislative Council- only elections	1851 1856 1858 1860 1862 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1889 1890 1892 1894 1895 1896 1898 1900 1901 1902 1904 1907 1910 1913 1916 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1940 1943 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958
Local elections	1919 1931 1933 1947 1996 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 2028
Aboriginal	2019 2023
Referendums	1898 1899
See also: Legislative Assembly by-elections Legislative Council by-elections

Categories:

Hidden categories:

Background

Key dates

Results

Legislative Assembly

See also

References