1948 Sydney City Council election

1948 Sydney City Council election
← 1944 4 December 1948 1950 →
Turnout75%[1]
  First party Second party Third party
 
Ernest Charles O'Dea.jpg
Portrait of Alderman Reginald James Bartley, Lord Mayor of Sydney (1943-1944, 1946-1948).jpg
Leader Ernest Charles O'Dea Reg Bartley Horace Foley
Party Labor Civic Reform Lang Labor
Leader's seat Phillip Ward Gipps Ward Phillip Ward
(lost seat)
Last election 8 seats 12 seats 0 seats
Seats before 7[a] 11[b] 1[a]
Seats won 19 seats 9 seats 2 seats
Seat change Increase 12 Decrease 2 Increase 1

The 1948 Sydney City Council election was held on 4 December 1948 to elect councillors to the City of Sydney, a local government area of New South Wales, Australia.[2]

Labor won a majority on council for the first time in 21 years, defeating the Civic Reform Association.[3]

Although scheduled to be held as part of the statewide local elections in 1947, the election was delayed by a year.[4]

Background

In 1947, the state Labor government expanded the boundaries of the City of Sydney to include the following municipalities:[1]

This saw the number of councillors increase from 20 to 30. The existing five four-member wards − Fitzroy, Flinders, Gipps, Macquarie and Phillip − were unchanged, while another four were created:[1]

This was also the first Sydney City Council election to use first-past-the-post, replacing preferential voting. The change only lasted several years.[5]

Campaign

Civic Reform campaigned against Labor on a message of "keeping local government in Sydney free of politics".[6]

114 candidates contested the election, with seven different groups endorsing candidates:[7][8][9]

Notes

  1. ^ a b On 6 April 1945, Labor alderman Paddy Stokes (Phillip Ward) died. The by-election held on 5 May was won by Lang Labor candidate Horace Foley.
  2. ^ Civic Reform alderman William Neville Harding (Macquarie Ward) left the CRA to form the City Progressives ahead of the election.
  3. ^ In Fitzroy Ward, the City Progressives candidates were reported by The Sydney Morning Herald to be endorsed by the King's Cross Citizens and Ratepayers' Association.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c Golder, Hilary. "A short electoral history of the Sydney City Council" (PDF). City of Sydney. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 March 2024.
  2. ^ "City of Sydney poll result". The Daily Telegraph. 6 December 1948.
  3. ^ "City Council Election". Sydney Morning Herald. 8 December 1948.
  4. ^ "City Elections". City of Sydney. Kings Cross Times. The usual triennial municipal elections due December 1947, were postponed by the Government for 12 months.
  5. ^ "FIRST PAST POST VOTING FOR COUNCIL". Trove. Daily Mirror.
  6. ^ "ELECTION PLEDGE OF PARTY". Trove. Daily Mirror.
  7. ^ "Labour gets control of Sydney Council". The West Australian. 6 December 1948.
  8. ^ a b "City Council Election Candidates". Sydney Morning Herald. 13 November 1948.
  9. ^ "Communist Candidates". Tribune. 13 November 1948.