Candidates of the 1931 Australian federal election

This article provides information on candidates who stood for the 1931 Australian federal election. The election was held on 19 December 1931.

In 1931, the Nationalist Party had become the United Australia Party, absorbing several Labor defectors. In New South Wales, the Labor Party split, with the Lang Labor group voting against the Labor government. Seats held by Labor defectors are here considered to be held by the Labor Party.

By-elections, appointments and defections

By-elections and appointments

• On 14 December 1929, Charles Frost (Labor) was elected to replace William McWilliams (Independent) as the member for Franklin.
• On 31 January 1931, Charles Marr (Nationalist) was elected to replace Edward McTiernan (Labor) as the member for Parkes.
• On 7 March 1931, Eddie Ward (Labor) was elected to replace John West (Labor) as the member for East Sydney.
• On 1 April 1931, Harry Kneebone (Labor) was appointed as a South Australian Senator to replace John Chapman (Country).
• On 12 May 1931, Tom Brennan (UAP) was appointed as a Victorian Senator to replace Harold Elliott (UAP).
• On 14 October 1931, Percy Stewart (Independent), the member for Wimmera, died. No by-election was held due to the proximity of the election.
• Subsequent to the election, but prior to the new Senate taking its place:
  • On 23 December 1931, Patrick Mooney (NSW Labor) was appointed as a New South Wales Senator to replace Walter Duncan (UAP).
  • On 3 March 1932, Charles Grant (UAP) was appointed as a Tasmanian Senator to replace James Ogden (UAP).

Defections

• In 1930, the three MPs elected as Independent Nationalists in 1929 – Billy Hughes (North Sydney), Walter Marks (Wentworth) and George Maxwell (Fawkner) – constituted themselves as the Australian Party.
• In 1931, Labor MPs James Fenton (Maribyrnong), Moses Gabb (Angas), Allan Guy (Bass), Joseph Lyons (Wilmot), Charles McGrath (Ballaarat) and John Price (Boothby) resigned from the party in protest at the reappointment of Ted Theodore as Treasurer. They sat with the Opposition Nationalist Party and soon merged with them to become the United Australia Party. The UAP was also joined by the three Australian Party MPs, Billy Hughes (North Sydney), Walter Marks (Wentworth) and George Maxwell (Fawkner).
• In 1931, supporters of NSW Premier Jack Lang broke away from the federal Labor Party to form the Australian Labor Party (NSW). Federally, these members were Jack Beasley (West Sydney), Senator James Dunn (New South Wales), John Eldridge (Martin), Rowley James (Hunter), Bert Lazzarini (Werriwa), Senator Arthur Rae (New South Wales) and Eddie Ward (East Sydney).

Seat changes

• The member for Eden-Monaro (NSW), John Cusack (Labor), contested Cowper.
• The member for Flinders (Vic), Jack Holloway (Labor), contested Melbourne Ports.
• The member for Martin (NSW), John Eldridge (NSW Labor), contested Barton.
• New South Wales Senator Walter Duncan (UAP) resigned from the Senate to contest Warringah.

Retiring Members and Senators

Labor

• James Mathews MP (Melbourne Ports, Vic)

United Australia

• Senator Sir John Newlands (SA)

Country

• William Killen MP (Riverina, 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	Labor (NSW) candidate	Other candidates
Barton	Labor	James Tully	Albert Lane (UAP)	John Eldridge
Calare	Labor	George Gibbons	Harold Thorby (CP)	Tom Watson
Cook	Labor	Edward Riley	Charles Robinson (UAP)	Jock Garden	Tom Wright (CPA)
Cowper	Country	John Cusack	Earle Page (CP)	Tom Roach
Dalley	Labor	Ted Theodore	Sidney Massey (UAP)	Sol Rosevear	William Little (Ind Nat) Jack Sylvester (CPA)
Darling	Labor	Arthur Blakeley	Harold Campbell (CP)	Richard Quintrell	Ted Tripp (CPA)
East Sydney	Labor	George Buckland	John Clasby (UAP)	Eddie Ward
Eden-Monaro	Labor	Gerald O'Sullivan	Arthur Christian (CP) John Perkins* (UAP)
Gwydir	Labor	Lou Cunningham	Aubrey Abbott* (CP) Arnold Brown (CP)	Edward Cummins
Hume	Labor	Parker Moloney	Thomas Collins (CP)	Lynden Regan
Hunter	Labor	Allan Howie		Rowley James	Arnold Bailey (Ind) Harris Burnham (CPA)
Lang	Labor	William Long	Alfred Bennett (UAP) Dick Dein* (UAP)	Dan Mulcahy
Macquarie	Labor	Ben Chifley	John Lawson (UAP)	Tony Luchetti	Robert Deveney (CPA)
Martin	Labor	James Catts	Mac Abbott (UAP) William Holman* (UAP)	Charles Hankin
New England	Country		Victor Thompson (CP)		Angus Campbell (Ind)
Newcastle	Labor	David Watkins		James Kidd	Rowland Clark (AAL) Jack Simpson (CPA) Walter Skelton (Ind Lab)
North Sydney	Independent Nationalist		Norman Cowper (UAP) Billy Hughes* (UAP)	Norman Nelson
Parkes	United Australia	William Gibbs	Charles Marr (UAP)	Herbert Garden
Parramatta	Labor	Albert Rowe	Frederick Stewart (UAP)	Valentine Patterson	Anwoth Brown (Ind)
Reid	Labor	Percy Coleman	Robert Uebel (UAP)	Joe Gander
Richmond	Country		Robert Gibson (CP) Roland Green* (CP) Leonard Greening (CP) Percy Tighe (CP)		Jim Fredericks (Ind)
Riverina	Country	Louis Levy	Robert Hankinson (CP) Horace Nock* (CP)	John Heiss
Robertson	United Australia	Wilfred Turnbull	Sydney Gardner (UAP)	Peter Robb	William Fleming (Ind CP)
South Sydney	Labor	Edward Riley	John Jennings (UAP)	John Stewart
Warringah	United Australia		Walter Duncan (UAP) Archdale Parkhill* (UAP)
Wentworth	Independent Nationalist		Eric Harrison* (UAP) Walter Marks (UAP)
Werriwa	Labor	Ernest Tully	Walter McNicoll* (CP)	Bert Lazzarini	Mont Sheppard (Ind AAL)
West Sydney	Labor	James Donaldson	Arthur Butterell (UAP)	Jack Beasley

Northern Territory

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Independent candidate
Northern Territory	Labor	Harold Nelson	William Easton (Ind) John McMillan (Ind Lab)

Queensland

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Coalition candidate	Other candidates
Brisbane	United Australia	George Lawson	Donald Cameron (UAP)	Hugh Talty (LL)
Capricornia	Labor	Frank Forde	Robert Staines (CP)
Darling Downs	United Australia		Arthur Morgan (UAP)	Sir Littleton Groom* (Ind) Herbert Yeates (Ind)
Herbert	Labor	George Martens	Grosvenor Francis (UAP)
Kennedy	Labor	Darby Riordan	Jim Clarke (UAP)
Lilley	United Australia		George Mackay (UAP)	Alexander Costello (Ind Lab) Frank Mason (SC)
Maranoa	Country	Myles Ferricks	James Hunter (CP)
Moreton	United Australia		Josiah Francis (UAP)
Oxley	United Australia	Francis Baker	James Bayley (UAP)	Frank Pforr (LL)
Wide Bay	Country		Bernard Corser (CP)

South Australia

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	EC candidate	Other candidates
Adelaide	Labor	George Edwin Yates	Fred Stacey	Agnes Goode (Ind) Tom Howard (LL) Crawford Vaughan (L-L) John Zwolsman (CPA)
Angas	Labor	David Fraser	Moses Gabb[1]
Barker	Emergency	Cyril Hasse	Malcolm Cameron	Percy Spehr (Ind)
Boothby	Labor	Cecil Skitch	John Price	Sam Lindsay (ST)
Grey	Labor	Andrew Lacey	Philip McBride	Alfred Barns (Ind) James Hodgson (ST)
Hindmarsh	Labor	Norman Makin	Ernest Evans	Sid O'Flaherty (LL)
Wakefield	Emergency		Charles Hawker	Maurice Collins (Ind CP)

Tasmania

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	UAP candidate	Other candidates
Bass	Labor	Claude Barnard	Allan Guy	Harold Solomon (Nat)
Darwin	United Australia	Joseph McGrath	George Bell
Denison	Labor	Charles Culley	Arthur Hutchin
Franklin	Labor	Charles Frost	Archibald Blacklow	Albert Beard (Ind)
Wilmot	Labor	George Becker	Joseph Lyons	George Pullen (Nat)

Victoria

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Coalition candidate	Other candidates
Balaclava	United Australia	Edward Stewart	Thomas White (UAP)	James Denyer (ADP)
Ballaarat	Labor	Stewart Miller	Henry Bromfield (CP) Charles McGrath* (UAP)
Batman	Labor	Frank Brennan	Samuel Dennis (UAP)	Frank Blake (ADP) Jim Hannan (CPA)
Bendigo	Labor	Richard Keane	Eric Harrison (UAP)
Bourke	Labor	Frank Anstey	Roy Ivey (UAP)	James Adie (CPA) Walter Norman (Ind)
Corangamite	Labor	Richard Crouch	William Gibson (CP)
Corio	Labor	Arthur Lewis	Richard Casey (UAP)	John Lister (Ind UAP)
Echuca	Country		William Hill (CP)	John Fitzpatrick (Ind UAP) William Moss (Ind CP) Galloway Stewart (Ind CP)
Fawkner	Independent Nationalist	John McKenna	George Maxwell (UAP)	David Robertson (Ind)
Flinders	Labor	Arthur Haywood	Stanley Bruce (UAP)
Gippsland	Country		Thomas Paterson (CP)
Henty	United Australia	Fred Katz	Henry Gullett (UAP)
Indi	Labor	Paul Jones	William Hutchinson* (UAP) Arthur Walter (CP)
Kooyong	United Australia	Cornelius Loughnan	John Latham (UAP)
Maribyrnong	Labor	William Beckett	James Fenton (UAP)	William Scott (ADP)
Melbourne	Labor	William Maloney	Israel Smith (UAP)
Melbourne Ports	Labor	Jack Holloway	William Orr (UAP)	Thomas Houston (LL) William Howey (Ind UAP) Noble Kerby (Ind) Thomas le Huray (CPA)
Wannon	Labor	John McNeill	Arthur Rodgers (CP) Thomas Scholfield* (UAP)
Wimmera	CPP		Samuel Lockhart (CP) William McCann (CP) Hugh McClelland* (CP) William Morgan (UAP)	Alexander Dowsley (Ind)
Yarra	Labor	James Scullin	John Davis (UAP)	Patrick Branagan (ST) Ernie Thornton (CPA)

Western Australia

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Coalition candidate	Other candidates
Forrest	Country		John Prowse (CP)
Fremantle	Labor	John Curtin	Keith Watson (UAP)	William Watson (Ind)
Kalgoorlie	Labor	Albert Green	William Pickering (CP) George Rainsford (UAP)
Perth	United Australia	John Moloney	Walter Nairn (UAP)
Swan	Country	John Fraser	Henry Gregory (CP)	Carlyle Ferguson (Ind) Alfred Reynolds (Ind CP)

Senate

Sitting Senators are shown in bold text. Tickets that elected at least one Senator are highlighted in the relevant colour. Successful candidates are identified by an asterisk (*).

New South Wales

Three seats were up for election. The United Australia Party was defending three seats. Labor Senator John Dooley and NSW Labor Senators James Dunn and Arthur Rae were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	Coalition candidates	Lang Labor candidates	Other candidates
John Bailey Hilton Blackburn Albert Gardiner	Charles Cox* (UAP) Walter Massy-Greene* (UAP) Charles Hardy* (CP)	Christopher Anderson Tom Arthur Ernest Barker	James Dooley (Ind Lab) George McDonald (Ind) Lance Sharkey (CPA) Abraham Taylor (Ind)

Queensland

Three seats were up for election. The United Australia Party-Country Party Coalition was defending three seats. United Australia Party Senators Thomas Crawford, Harry Foll and Matthew Reid were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	Coalition candidates	Other candidates
Gordon Brown* Joe Collings* John MacDonald*	Walter Cooper (CP) Sir William Glasgow (UAP) William Thompson (UAP)	Fred Paterson (CPA)

South Australia

Three seats were up for election. The Emergency Committee of South Australia was defending three seats. Labor Senators John Daly, Bert Hoare and Mick O'Halloran were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	EC candidates	Independent candidates
Harry Kneebone John Verran Frederick Ward	Oliver Badman* Jack Duncan-Hughes* Alexander McLachlan*	Raphael Cilento Ruth Ravenscroft

Tasmania

Three seats were up for election. The United Australia Party was defending three seats. United Australia Party Senators John Hayes, Herbert Hays and James Ogden were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	UAP candidates
Thomas Jude David O'Keefe Walter Woods	Andrew Cooper James Counsel Bayard Edgell Syd Jackson John Millen* Herbert Payne* Benjamin Pearsall Herbert Postle Burford Sampson*

Victoria

Three seats were up for election. The United Australia Party was defending three seats. Labor Senator John Barnes, United Australia Party Senator Harry Lawson and Country Party Senator Robert Elliott were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	UAP candidates	Other candidates
Don Cameron Jim Sheehan Alf Wallis	Tom Brennan* James Guthrie* William Plain*	Alured Kelly (Ind Nat) William Murchison (Ind UAP) Harold Partridge (CPA)

Western Australia

Three seats were up for election. The United Australia Party-Country Party Coalition was defending three seats. United Australia Party Senators Sir Hal Colebatch and Walter Kingsmill and Country Party Senator Bertie Johnston were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	Coalition candidates	Other candidates
George Gaunt Louis Greive Ted Needham	William Carroll* (CP) Patrick Lynch* (UAP) Sir George Pearce* (UAP)	Findlay MacKay (CPA) John Thomson (Ind CP)

See also

• 1931 Australian federal election
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1929–1931
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1931–1934
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1929–1932
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1932–1935
• List of political parties in Australia

Notes

1. Labor-turned-independent MP Moses Gabb was endorsed in the Division of Angas by the Emergency Committee of South Australia (formed by the state UAP for this election) who did not run their own candidate in Angas. Though Gabb is counted as an Emergency Committee MP, he remained an independent and did not help form or sit with the government and as such has been removed from government tallies.

References

• Adam Carr's Election Archive - House of Representatives 1931
• Adam Carr's Election Archive - Senate 1931