Parliament of New South Wales, Legislative Assembly election
Election of 6 August 1904
Government in office and parliamentary support before and after the election
Government in office at election
Government in office after election
Enrolment and voting
New South Wales, Legislative Assembly votes and seats won
Election held on 6 August 1904
Criteria for the inclusion of parties in this table are set out in the Glossary under 'listed party'
| Party Name | First preference vote n | First preference vote share % | Change from previous election % | Seats won n | Uncontested seats held n | Seat share % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Party | 176,799 | 44.58 | +11.25 | 45 | 1 | 50.00 |
| Australian Labor Party | 91,177 | 22.99 | +4.31 | 25 | 1 | 27.78 |
| Progressive Party (Progressives) | 73,264 | 18.47 | -3.60 | 16 | 0 | 17.78 |
| Independents | 31,633 | 7.98 | -7.54 | 3 | 0 | 3.33 |
| Independent Liberal | 18,202 | 4.59 | -1.57 | 1 | 0 | 1.11 |
| Independent Labor | 1,009 | 0.25 | -1.57 | 0 | ||
| Votes for other than listed parties | 4,538 | 1.14 | +0.98 | |||
| Totals | 396,622 | 100.00 | 90 | 2 | 100.00 |
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Notes
Franchise; enfranchisement of women This was the first election for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly with a universal franchise; women had been enfranchised by legislation passed in 1902.
Premier in office at election: There had been a change of Premier since the previous election; John See resigned as premier for personal reasons and Waddell was commissioned as premier of a Progressive Party and ministerialist government on 15 June 1904. For details and references, see the entries for these premiers in the 'Governments' section of this website.
Parties: Party names and affiliations were fluid in this period. Hughes and Graham (pp. 436-437, reference in Sources, below) assign the votes of Progressives to the 'Ministerial' party as a way of indicating the complexities of ministerialist politics. For a description and analysis of the style of parliamentary government in this period and the emergence of political parties, see P. Loveday, A W Martin and Patrick Weller, 'New South Wales', in P Loveday, A W Martin and R S Parker, (editors), The Emergence of the Australian Party System, pp. 172-248, (Sydney: Hale and Iremonger, 1977 ISBN 0908094035).
Minority government: After the election, while the Liberal Party had won only 45 of the 90 seats in the Legislative Assembly, the Carruthers government was supported by the one Independent Liberal Party member and the three Independent members of the Assembly.
Reference: For a comprehensive survey of this election and the preceding period, see Michael Hogan, '1904' in Michael Hogan and David Clune (editors), The People's Choice: Electoral Politics in 20th Century New South Wales, vol. 1 (1901 to 1927), pp. 29-57, (Sydney: Parliament of New South Wales and University of Sydney, 2001, ISBN 0909907390).
Sources
Colin A Hughes and B D Graham, A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1890-1964, pp. 423-460, (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1968, SBN 708102700); New South Wales, Parliament, The New South Wales Parliamentary Record: Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly, 1824-1999, vol. VI, pp. 7-15, (Sydney: Parliament of New South Wales, 1999).