1959 South Australian state election

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]

1959 South Australian state election
7 March 1959 (1959-03-07)
All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly
20 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Thomas Playford Mick O'Halloran
Party Liberal and Country League Labor
Leader since 5 November 1938 10 October 1949
Leader's seat Gumeracha Frome
Last election 21 seats 15 seats
Seats won 20 seats 17 seats
Seat change Decrease1 Increase2
Percentage 50.3% 49.7%
Swing Decrease1.0 Increase1.0
Premier before election

Thomas Playford
Liberal and Country League

 Elected Premier

Thomas Playford
Liberal and Country League

Background

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

South Australian state election, 7 March 1959[3]
House of Assembly
<< 1956–1962 >>

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
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

Notes
  1. 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.
  2. 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).
  3. "Summary of 1959 Election". University of Western Australia. Retrieved 7 July 2015.

Further reading
  • Hetherington, Robert; Reid, Robert Lovell (1962). The South Australian Elections 1959. Adelaide: Rigby. ASIN B003Z02DY8.
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