Members of the Australian Senate, 1947–1950

This is a list of members of the Australian Senate from 1 July 1947 to 30 June 1950.[1] Half of its members were elected at the 21 August 1943 election and had terms starting on 1 July 1944 and finishing on 30 June 1947; the other half were elected at the 28 September 1946 election and had terms starting on 1 July 1947 and finishing on 30 June 1953.

Senate composition at 1 July 1947
Government (33) - (14 seat majority)
Labor (33)

Opposition (3)
Liberal (2)
Country Party (1)

Senate composition at 22 February 1950
Government (36) - (5 seat majority)
Labor (36)

Opposition (24)
Liberal (19)
Country Party (5)

All senators elected at the 1943 election and 15 of the 18 elected (representing all states except Queensland) represented the Australian Labor Party, leading to the strongest single party domination in any Australian Senate. The plurality-at-large voting system used before the 1949 election meant that the winning party (or coalition) ticket usually took all seats in each state.

The Senate was expanded from 36 to 60 seats as a result of legislation passed in 1948.[2] 1949 was the first senate election conducted with a single transferable vote under a proportional voting system. with the new senators taking their seats on 22 February 1950 The membership of the newly expanded Senate broke down as follows:

12 of its members (2 for each state) had terms starting on 22 February 1950 (the day the term of the House of Representatives began) and due to finish on 30 June 1953.
12 of its members (2 for each state) had terms starting on 22 February 1950 (the day the term of the House of Representatives began) and due to finish on 30 June 1956.

While the introduction of new senators decreased the Labor dominance of the senate, Labor retained a Senate majority.

Senator		State	Term ending	Years in office
Stan Amour	Labor	New South Wales	1950	1938–1965
John Armstrong	Labor	New South Wales	1950	1938–1962
James Arnold	Labor	New South Wales	1953	1941–1965
Bill Ashley	Labor	New South Wales	1953	1938–1962
Bill Aylett	Labor	Tasmania	1950	1938–1965
Fred Beerworth	Labor	South Australia	1953	1946–1951
Gordon Brown [lower-alpha 1]	Labor	Queensland	1950	1932–1965
Don Cameron	Labor	Victoria	1950	1938–1962
Robert Clothier	Labor	Western Australia	1950	1943–1968
George Cole	Labor	Tasmania	1953 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1965
Joe Collings [lower-alpha 1]	Labor	Queensland	1950	1932–1950
Joe Cooke	Labor	Western Australia	1953	1947–1951, 1952–1965
Walter Cooper	Country	Queensland	1953	1928–1932, 1935–1968
Ben Courtice	Labor	Queensland	1950	1937–1962
Jack Critchley	Labor	South Australia	1953	1947–1959
Jack Devlin	Labor	Victoria	1950	1946–1957
Alex Finlay	Labor	South Australia	1950	1944–1953
James Fraser	Labor	Western Australia	1950	1938–1959
John Gorton	Liberal	Victoria	1956 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1968
Donald Grant	Labor	New South Wales	1950	1944–1959
Allan Guy	Liberal	Tasmania	1956 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1956
Clive Hannaford	Liberal	South Australia	1953 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1967
John Harris	Labor	Western Australia	1953	1947–1951, 1953–1959
Bert Hendrickson	Labor	Victoria	1953	1947–1971
Fred Katz	Labor	Victoria	1953	1947–1951
Roy Kendall	Liberal	Queensland	1956 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1965
Charles Lamp	Labor	Tasmania	1950	1938–1950
William Large	Labor	New South Wales	1953	1941–1951
Ted Maher	Country	Queensland	1956 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1965
Ted Mattner	Liberal	South Australia	1956 [lower-alpha 2]	1944–1946, 1950–1968
John McCallum	Liberal	New South Wales	1956 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1962
Nick McKenna	Labor	Tasmania	1950	1944–1968
George McLeay	Liberal	South Australia	1956 [lower-alpha 2]	1935–1947, 1950–1955
Bill Morrow	Labor	Tasmania	1953	1947–1953
Reg Murray	Labor	Tasmania	1953	1947–1951
Richard Nash	Labor	Western Australia	1950	1943–1951
Theo Nicholls	Labor	South Australia	1950	1944–1968
Justin O'Byrne	Labor	Tasmania	1953	1947–1981
Sid O'Flaherty	Labor	South Australia	1950	1944–1962
Neil O'Sullivan	Liberal	Queensland	1953	1947–1962
Edmund Piesse	Country	Western Australia	1956 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1952
Dame Annabelle Rankin	Liberal	Queensland	1953	1947–1971
George Rankin	Country	Victoria	1956 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1956
Albert Reid	Country	New South Wales	1956 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1962
Agnes Robertson	Liberal	Western Australia	1956 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1962
John Ryan	Labor	South Australia	1953 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1959
Charles Sandford	Labor	Victoria	1953	1947–1956, 1957–1966
Malcolm Scott	Liberal	Western Australia	1953 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1971
Jim Sheehan	Labor	Victoria	1950	1938–1940, 1944–1962
Wilfrid Simmonds	Liberal	Queensland	1953 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1951
John Spicer	Liberal	Victoria	1956 [lower-alpha 2]	1940–1944, 1950–1956
Bill Spooner	Liberal	New South Wales	1956 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1965
Dame Dorothy Tangney	Labor	Western Australia	1953	1943–1968
John Tate	Liberal	New South Wales	1953 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1953
Frederick Ward	Labor	South Australia	1953	1947–1951
Dame Ivy Wedgwood	Liberal	Victoria	1953 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1971
Don Willesee	Labor	Western Australia	1953 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1975
Ian Wood	Liberal	Queensland	1956 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1978
Robert Wordsworth	Liberal	Tasmania	1953 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1959
Reg Wright	Liberal	Tasmania	1956 [lower-alpha 2]	1950–1978

Notes

Father of the Senate
Term commenced on 22 February 1950, with expansion of Parliament.

References

"The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate 1947". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
Representation Act 1948 (Cth).

Journals of the Senate. Parliament of Australia. 1948.
"Members of the Senate since 1901". Parliamentary Handbook. Parliament of Australia. Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 1 December 2008.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[Father-3] Father of the Senate

[new-4] Term commenced on 22 February 1950, with expansion of Parliament.

[1] "The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate 1947". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 19 March 2017.

[2] Representation Act 1948 (Cth).

Members of the Parliament of Australia by parliamentary terms
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Senate	1901–1903 1904–1906 1907–1910 1910–1913 1913–1914 1914–1917 1917–1920 1920–1923 1923–1926 1926–1929 1929–1932 1932–1935 1935–1938 1938–1941 1941–1944 1944–1947 1947–1950 1950–1951 1951–1953 1953–1956 1956–1959 1959–1962 1962–1965 1965–1968 1968–1971 1971–1974 1974–1975 1975–1978 1978–1981 1981–1983 1983–1985 1985–1987 1987–1990 1990–1993 1993–1996 1996–1999 1999–2002 2002–2005 2005–2008 2008–2011 2011–2014 2014–2016 2016–2019 2019–2022 2022–2025
Served in both houses Represented multiple states Longest-serving members Members of multiple Australian legislatures