Candidates of the 1937 Australian federal election

This article provides information on candidates who stood for the 1937 Australian federal election. The election was held on 23 October 1937.

In 1936, the Lang Labor group had been reabsorbed into the Australian Labor Party. Seats are still designated as being held by Lang Labor.

By-elections, appointments and defections

By-elections and appointments

• On 1 June 1935, David Oliver Watkins (Labor) was elected to succeed his father David Watkins (Labor) as the member for Newcastle.
• On 17 August 1935, Harold Holt (UAP) was elected to succeed George Maxwell (UAP) as the member for Fawkner.
• On 26 September 1935, Guy Arkins (UAP) was appointed a New South Wales Senator to replace Lionel Courtenay (UAP).
• On 19 August 1936, Thomas Marwick (Country) was appointed a Western Australian Senator replace William Carroll (Country).
• On 12 December 1936, Bill Riordan (Labor) was elected to succeed Darby Riordan (Labor) as the member for Kennedy.
• On 19 December 1936, Arthur Fadden (Country) was elected to succeed Sir Littleton Groom (UAP) as the member for Darling Downs.
• On 8 May 1937, William Scully (Labor) was elected to succeed Aubrey Abbott (Country) as the member for Gwydir.
• On 2 September 1937, Ben Courtice (Labor) was appointed a Queensland Senator to replace John MacDonald (Labor).
• On 21 October 1937, Philip McBride (UAP) was appointed a South Australian Senator to replace Oliver Badman (Country).

Defections

• In 1936, the Australian Labor Party (NSW) was reabsorbed into the Australian Labor Party. NSW Labor members rejoined the federal party: Jack Beasley (West Sydney), Joe Clark (Darling), Joe Gander (Reid), Jock Garden (Cook), Rowley James (Hunter), Bert Lazzarini (Werriwa), Dan Mulcahy (Lang), Sol Rosevear (Dalley) and Eddie Ward (East Sydney).

Redistributions and seat changes

• Redistributions of electoral boundaries occurred in Victoria and Western Australia.
  • In Victoria, the Country-held seat of Echuca was abolished. A new seat, Deakin (notionally UAP), was created.
    • The member for Echuca, John McEwen (Country), contested Indi.
    • The member for Indi, William Hutchinson (UAP), contested Deakin.
  • There were minimal changes in Western Australia.
• The member for Lilley (Qld), Sir Donald Cameron (UAP), contested the Senate.
• South Australian Senator Oliver Badman (Country) resigned from the Senate to contest Grey, as part of a Coalition deal that saw Philip McBride (UAP), the member for Grey, appointed to Badman's vacancy in the Senate.

Retiring Members and Senators

Labor

• Jock Garden MP (Cook, NSW)

United Australia

• Archibald Fisken MP (Ballaarat, Vic)
• Eric Harrison MP (Bendigo, Vic)
• Senator Charles Cox (NSW)
• Senator Jack Duncan-Hughes (SA)
• Senator Sir Walter Massy-Greene (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	Other candidates
Barton	United Australia	John Donovan	Albert Lane (UAP)	Stanley Allen (SC)
Calare	Country	William Folster	Harold Thorby (CP)
Cook	Labor (NSW)	Tom Sheehan		Cyril Glassop (Ind Lab)
Cowper	Country	Abraham Brindley	Earle Page (CP)
Dalley	Labor (NSW)	Sol Rosevear	Arthur Brough (UAP)
Darling	Labor (NSW)	Joe Clark		Alexander Huie (Ind)
East Sydney	Labor (NSW)	Eddie Ward	Arthur Butterell (UAP)	Thomas Grant (Ind) Louis Phillips (Ind)
Eden-Monaro	United Australia	Claude Allen	John Perkins (UAP)
Gwydir	Labor	William Scully	Ernest Batchelor (CP)
Hume	Country	Essell Hoad	Thomas Collins (CP)
Hunter	Labor (NSW)	Rowley James
Lang	Labor (NSW)	Dan Mulcahy	Matthew Calman (UAP)	Ernest Carr (SC)
Macquarie	United Australia	Tony Luchetti	John Lawson (UAP)
Martin	United Australia	Stan Taylor	William McCall (UAP)	George Carruthers (SC)
New England	Country	Leigh Cuthbertson	Victor Thompson (CP)
Newcastle	Labor	David Watkins		Hilton Sykes (Ind)
North Sydney	United Australia	Henry Clayden	Billy Hughes (UAP)	Percival Minahan (SC)
Parkes	United Australia	Karl Guhl	Sir Charles Marr (UAP)
Parramatta	United Australia	Albert Rowe	Sir Frederick Stewart (UAP)	Dick George (Ind) Harold Meggitt (Ind)
Reid	Labor (NSW)	Joe Gander	Reuben Jenner (UAP)
Richmond	Country	Jim Fredericks	Larry Anthony* (CP) Robert Gibson (CP) Roland Green (CP)
Riverina	Country	William Quirk	Horace Nock (CP)	Robert Ballantyne (Ind)
Robertson	United Australia	Gordon Cross	Sydney Gardner (UAP)	John Metcalfe (Ind)
Warringah	United Australia	Walter Salter	Sir Archdale Parkhill (UAP)	Joseph Hamlet (Ind UAP) Percy Spender* (Ind UAP)
Watson	United Australia	William Dignam	John Jennings (UAP)
Wentworth	United Australia	Thomas Conway	Eric Harrison (UAP)
Werriwa	Labor (NSW)	Bert Lazzarini	Henry Storey (UAP)
West Sydney	Labor (NSW)	Jack Beasley

Northern Territory

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Independent candidates
Northern Territory	Independent	Robert Toupein	Adair Blain* Ronald Hughes-Jones Harold Nelson

Queensland

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Coalition candidate	Social Credit candidate	Communist candidate
Brisbane	Labor	George Lawson	Graham Hart (UAP)	Ambrose Sawtell
Capricornia	Labor	Frank Forde	Edwin Hiskens (CP)	John Harding
Darling Downs	Country	Leslie Bailey	Arthur Fadden (CP)	Arthur Rushton
Griffith	Labor	Francis Baker	Dugald Clark (UAP)	William Moore
Herbert	Labor	George Martens	James Wilkie (CP)	Henry Beck	Fred Paterson
Kennedy	Labor	Bill Riordan	Alex Kippen (CP)	Herbert Price
Lilley	United Australia	Edmund Taylor	William Jolly (UAP)	Harry Cash
Maranoa	Country	Randolph Bedford	James Hunter (CP)	Henry Madden
Moreton	United Australia	John McCoy	Josiah Francis (UAP)	Henry Hogg
Wide Bay	Country	George Watson	Bernard Corser (CP)	Geoffrey Nichols

South Australia

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Coalition candidate	Other candidates
Adelaide	United Australia	Ken Bardolph Herbert George George Edwin Yates	Fred Stacey (UAP)
Barker	Country		Archie Cameron (CP)	Charles Lloyd (Ind)
Boothby	United Australia	Kevin McEntee Leonard Pilton	John Price (UAP)	William Hardy (Ind)
Grey	United Australia	James Marner	Oliver Badman (CP)	Alfred Parker (Ind)
Hindmarsh	Labor	Norman Makin	Harry Hatwell (UAP)
Wakefield	United Australia	Raymond Davis	Charles Hawker (UAP)

Tasmania

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	UAP candidate	Other candidates
Bass	Labor	Claude Barnard	Allan Guy	John Watson (Ind)
Darwin	United Australia	Edwin Brown	George Bell
Denison	Labor	Gerald Mahoney	Sir John McPhee	Maxwell Hickman (Ind Lab) Athol Smith (SC)
Franklin	Labor	Charles Frost	Hugh Warner
Wilmot	United Australia	Lancelot Spurr Maurice Weston	Joseph Lyons

Victoria

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Coalition candidate	Other candidates
Balaclava	United Australia	Phillip Nash	Thomas White (UAP)	John Atkinson (Ind)
Ballaarat	United Australia	Reg Pollard	Stanley Walker (UAP)
Batman	Labor	Frank Brennan	Albert Peters (UAP)
Bendigo	United Australia	Ernest Duus	Walter Pearce (UAP) George Rankin* (CP)
Bourke	Labor	Maurice Blackburn	Richard Griffiths (UAP)
Corangamite	United Australia	Arthur Haywood	Geoffrey Street (UAP)
Corio	United Australia	Leo Carmody	Richard Casey (UAP)
Deakin	United Australia	Paul Jones	William Hutchinson (UAP)
Fawkner	United Australia	William Doran	Harold Holt (UAP)	William Bottomley (Ind)
Flinders	United Australia		James Fairbairn* (UAP) Reginald Skeat (CP)	Alexander Amess (SC) Ralph Gibson (CPA)
Gippsland	Country	James McKenna	Thomas Paterson (CP)
Henty	United Australia	Sydney Walker	Sir Henry Gullett (UAP)	Rupert Hornabrook (Ind)
Indi	Country	William Hartshorne	John McEwen (CP)
Kooyong	United Australia	Thomas Brennan	Robert Menzies (UAP)	Leslie Hollins (Ind)
Maribyrnong	Labor	Arthur Drakeford	Malcolm Fenton (UAP)	Edward Turner (Ind)
Melbourne	Labor	William Maloney
Melbourne Ports	Labor	Jack Holloway
Wannon	United Australia	Don McLeod	Robert Rankin (CP) Thomas Scholfield* (UAP)
Wimmera	Country		Hugh McClelland (CP)	Alexander Wilson (Ind)
Yarra	Labor	James Scullin	Douglas Knight (UAP)

Western Australia

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Coalition candidate	Independent candidates
Forrest	Country	Ernest Hoar	John Prowse (CP)
Fremantle	Labor	John Curtin	Eric Isaachsen (UAP)	Henry Wright
Kalgoorlie	Labor	Albert Green	Stephen Kellow (UAP)
Perth	United Australia	Tom Burke	Walter Nairn* (UAP) Jack Simons (UAP)	Viv James
Swan	Country	John Steele	Henry Gregory (CP)

Senate

Sitting Senators are shown in bold text.

New South Wales

Four seats were up for election. One of these was a short-term vacancy caused by United Australia Party Senator Lionel Courtenay's death; this had been filled in the interim by Guy Arkins. The United Australia Party-Country Party Coalition was defending four seats. United Australia Party Senator Dick Dein and Country Party Senator Mac Abbott were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	Coalition candidates	Other candidates
Stan Amour* John Armstrong* Tom Arthur* Bill Ashley*	Guy Arkins (UAP David Hall (UAP) Charles Hardy (CP) Basil Helmore (UAP)	Peter Pollack (Ind)

Queensland

Three seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending three seats. United Australia Party Senators Thomas Crawford and Harry Foll and Country Party Senator Walter Cooper were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	Coalition candidates	Social Credit candidates
Gordon Brown* Joe Collings* Ben Courtice*	Frederick Annand (UAP) Sir Donald Cameron (UAP) James Heading (CP)	John Aird Bertram Allen William Argaet

South Australia

Three seats were up for election. The United Australia Party was defending three seats. United Australia Party Senators James McLachlan, George McLeay and Oliver Uppill were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	UAP candidates	Group A candidates	Other candidates
John Daly Edgar Dawes Bert Hoare Mick O'Halloran Frederick Ward Michael Woods	Philip McBride* Alexander McLachlan* Keith Wilson*	Thomas Dunsford Ernest Evans Frederick James	Jeanne Young (Ind)

Tasmania

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

Labor candidates	UAP candidates
Bill Aylett* Richard Darcey* Charles Lamp* Herbert McKay	Donald Cameron Ernest Freeland Henry McFie John Millen Herbert Payne Burford Sampson

Victoria

Three seats were up for election. The United Australia Party was defending three seats. United Australia Party Senators Charles Brand and John Leckie and Country Party Senator William Gibson were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	UAP candidates	Country candidates	Other candidates
John Barnes* Don Cameron* Richard Keane*	Tom Brennan James Guthrie William Plain	George Budge Samuel Geddes James Marchbank	Marcus Wettenhall (Ind)

Western Australia

Three seats were up for election. The United Australia Party-Country Party Coalition was defending three seats. United Australia Party Senators Herbert Collett and Allan MacDonald and Country Party Senator Bertie Johnston were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	Coalition candidates	Other candidates
Robert Clothier* James Cunningham* James Fraser*	Patrick Lynch (UAP) Thomas Marwick (CP) Sir George Pearce (UAP)	Carlyle Ferguson (Ind)

See also

• 1937 Australian federal election
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1934–1937
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1937–1940
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1935–1938
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1938–1941
• List of political parties in Australia

References

• Adam Carr's Election Archive - House of Representatives 1937
• Adam Carr's Election Archive - Senate 1937