1907 Queensland state election

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 18 May 1907 to elect the 72 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The election was the first one in which women had a right to vote.

1907 Queensland state election
18 May 1907 (1907-05-18)
All 72 seats in the Legislative Assembly
37 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
Turnout71.61 ( 2.56 pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader William Kidston Robert Philp David Bowman
Party Kidstonites Conservative Labour
Leader since 19 January 1906 19 September 1904 15 April 1907
Leader's seat Rockhampton Townsville Fortitude Valley
Last election 31 seats 23 seats 17 seats
Seats won 24 seats 29 seats 18 seats
Seat change 7 6 1
Percentage 31.88% 40.58% 26.39%
Swing N/A 11.51 9.65
Premier before election

William Kidston
Kidston Party

 Resulting Premier

William Kidston
Kidston Party

The election was the first held since Premier William Kidston, formerly of the Labour Party, had founded a new movement with his own supporters as well as the Parliamentary Conservatives. The end result of the election was an improvement in Kidston's position, although he was still in minority government with Labour support. The main opposition group was Robert Philp's Conservatives.

Key dates
Date Event
11 April 1907 The Parliament was dissolved.[1]
11 April 1907 Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.[2]
27 April 1907 Close of nominations.
18 May 1907 Polling day, between the hours of 8 am and 6 pm.
8 June 1907 The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
23 July 1907 Parliament resumed for business.[3]

Results

Seat changes indicated are those caused by the election; at the preceding election, Labour had 34 seats, Ministerial 21, Conservative 15 and Independent 2.

Queensland state election, 18 May 1907[4]
Legislative Assembly
<< 1904–1908 >>

Enrolled voters 212,337[1]
Votes cast 152,049 Turnout 71.61 –2.56
Informal votes 2,547 Informal 1.67 +0.87
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats Change
  Conservative 80,076 40.58 +11.59 29 + 6
  Kidstonites 109,985 31.88 24 – 7
  Labour 136,419 26.39 –9.65 18 + 1
  Independent 2,259 1.14 –3.82 1 ± 0
Total 197,312[2]     72  
1 220,189 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 4 seats (5.6% of the total) were uncontested—one Labor seat representing 1,352 enrolled voters, and three Conservative seats representing 4,604 voters.
2 In 11 electorates, voters had two votes each, so the total number of votes exceeds the total number of voters.

Electoral System

The election for the Legislative Assembly was held using the 'contingent vote'.[5] The Legislative Council was a fully nominated body.

Electoral system changes

This election was the first held since women in Queensland gained the right to vote, although indigenous women did not gain the right until 1962.[6]

See also

References
  1. "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 11 April 1907. p. 88:1209.
  2. "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 11 April 1907. p. 88:1213.
  3. "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 29 June 1907. p. 88:1695.
  4. Australian Government and Politics Database. "Parliament of Queensland, Assembly election, 18 May 1907". Archived from the original on 3 March 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
  5. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 September 2011. Retrieved 19 August 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "Electoral Milestones for Women". Australian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 21 September 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2020.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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