1959 South Australian state election
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All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly 20 seats were needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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State elections were held in South Australia on 7 March 1959. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League led by Premier of South Australia Thomas Playford IV defeated the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition Mick O'Halloran.[1][2]
Background
[edit]Labor won two seats at this election, rural Mount Gambier from an Independent and rural Wallaroo from the LCL. Both of these seats had been previously won in by-elections in 1957 and 1958, and Labor retained them.[1][2]
Results
[edit]|
South Australian state election, 7 March 1959[3] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enrolled voters | 497,456 | |||||
| Votes cast | 400,531 | Turnout | 93.95% | +0.05% | ||
| Informal votes | 11,593 | Informal | 2.89% | +0.50% | ||
| Summary of votes by party | ||||||
| Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
| Labor | 191,933 | 49.35% | +1.98% | 17 | + 2 | |
| Liberal and Country | 143,710 | 36.95% | +0.26% | 20 | – 1 | |
| Democratic Labor | 21,984 | 5.65% | –1.79% | 0 | ± 0 | |
| Communist | 5,505 | 1.42% | +0.26% | 0 | ± 0 | |
| Independent | 25,806 | 6.63% | –0.71% | 2 | – 1 | |
| Total | 388,938 | 39 | ||||
| Two-party-preferred | ||||||
| Liberal and Country | 50.30% | –1.00% | ||||
| Labor | 49.70% | +1.00% | ||||
- The primary vote figures were from contested seats, while the state-wide two-party-preferred vote figures were estimated from all seats.
Post-election pendulum
[edit]| LCL seats (20) | |||
| Marginal | |||
| Fairly safe | |||
| Unley | Colin Dunnage | LCL | 7.0% |
| Chaffey | Harold King | LCL | 8.2% |
| Torrens | John Coumbe | LCL | 9.6% |
| Safe | |||
| Flinders | Glen Pearson | LCL | 10.1% |
| Victoria | Leslie Harding | LCL | 11.4% |
| Glenelg | Baden Pattinson | LCL | 12.4% |
| Onkaparinga | Howard Shannon | LCL | 13.3% |
| Angas | Berthold Teusner | LCL | 14.7% |
| Mitcham | Robin Millhouse | LCL | 20.2% |
| Light | George Hambour | LCL | 21.8% |
| Gumeracha | Thomas Playford | LCL | 26.4% |
| Burnside | Joyce Steele | LCL | undistributed |
| Gouger | Steele Hall | LCL | undistributed |
| Albert | Bill Nankivell | LCL | unopposed |
| Alexandra | David Brookman | LCL | unopposed |
| Barossa | Condor Laucke | LCL | unopposed |
| Eyre | George Bockelberg | LCL | unopposed |
| Rocky River | James Heaslip | LCL | unopposed |
| Stirling | William Jenkins | LCL | unopposed |
| Yorke Peninsula | Cecil Hincks | LCL | unopposed |
| Labor seats (17) | |||
| Marginal | |||
| West Torrens | Fred Walsh | ALP | 1.4% |
| Frome | Mick O'Halloran | ALP | 2.5% |
| Millicent | Jim Corcoran | ALP | 4.5% |
| Norwood | Don Dunstan | ALP | 5.0% |
| Fairly safe | |||
| Edwardstown | Frank Walsh | ALP | 7.8% |
| Mount Gambier | Ron Ralston | ALP | 8.3% |
| Wallaroo | Lloyd Hughes | ALP | 8.9% |
| Safe | |||
| Murray | Gabe Bywaters | ALP | 15.1% |
| Gawler | John Clark | ALP | 17.7% |
| Adelaide | Sam Lawn | ALP | 30.1% v DLP |
| Port Adelaide | John Ryan | ALP | 34.9% v DLP |
| Whyalla | Ron Loveday | ALP | 34.9% v IND |
| Stuart | Lindsay Riches | ALP | 38.4% v IND |
| Semaphore | Harold Tapping | ALP | 42.2% v COM |
| Enfield | Joe Jennings | ALP | undistributed |
| Port Pirie | Dave McKee | ALP | undistributed |
| Hindmarsh | Cyril Hutchens | ALP | unopposed |
| Crossbench seats (2) | |||
| Burra | Percy Quirke | IND | 2.1% v LCL |
| Ridley | Tom Stott | IND | 6.7% v LCL |
See also
[edit]- Results of the South Australian state election, 1959 (House of Assembly)
- Candidates of the 1959 South Australian state election
- Members of the South Australian House of Assembly, 1959-1962
- Members of the South Australian Legislative Council, 1959-1962
- Playmander
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b Jaensch, Dean (March 2007). "The 1959 General Election - Formed the 36th Parliament". History of South Australian elections 1857-2006: House of Assembly, Volume 1. State Electoral Office South Australia. pp. 277–280. ISBN 9780975048634. Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2015 – via Electoral Commission of South Australia.
- ^ a b Tilby Stock, Jenny (1996). "The 'Playmander', Its origins, operation and effect on South Australia". In O'Neil, Bernard; Raftery, Judith; Round, Kerrie (eds.). Playford's South Australia: essays on the history of South Australia, 1933-1968. Association of Professional Historians. pp. 73–90. ISBN 9780646290928 – via Professional Historians Association (South Australia).
- ^ "Summary of 1959 Election". University of Western Australia. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
Further reading
[edit]- Hetherington, Robert; Reid, Robert Lovell (1962). The South Australian Elections 1959. Adelaide: Rigby. ASIN B003Z02DY8.