Candidates of the 1946 Australian federal election

This article provides information on candidates who stood for the 1946 Australian federal election. The election was held on 28 September 1946.

In 1944–1945, the United Australia Party (UAP) had reconstituted itself as the Liberal Party of Australia. Former UAP seats are now designated as Liberal seats.

By-elections, appointments and defections

By-elections and appointments

• On 10 October 1944, Ted Mattner (UAP) was appointed a South Australian Senator to replace Oliver Uppill (UAP).
• On 18 August 1945, Kim Beazley (Labor) was elected to replace John Curtin (Labor) as the member for Fremantle.
• On 9 February 1946, Winton Turnbull (Country) was elected to replace Alexander Wilson (Independent) as the member for Wimmera.
• On 30 March 1946, Jo Gullett (Liberal) was elected to replace Arthur Coles (Independent) as the member for Henty.
• On 15 May 1946, Alexander Fraser (Country) was appointed a Victorian Senator to replace Richard Keane (Labor).
• On 14 August 1946, Jack Beasley (Labor), the member for West Sydney, resigned. The following day, Norman Makin (Labor), the member for Hindmarsh, also resigned. No by-elections were held due to the proximity of the election.

Defections

• In 1944, the United Australia Party was reconstituted as the Liberal Party of Australia. All former UAP members joined the new party.

Retiring Members and Senators

Labor

• George Martens MP (Herbert, Qld)

Liberal

• Sir Frederick Stewart MP (Parramatta, NSW)
• Senator Thomas Crawford (Qld)
• Senator Harry Foll (Qld)
• Senator John Hayes (Tas)
• Senator James McLachlan (SA)

Country

• Senator William Gibson (Vic)

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	Labor	H. V. Evatt	George Hohnen (Lib)
Calare	Labor	John Breen	John Howse* (Lib) Harold Thorby (CP)	Madge Roberts (Ind)
Cook	Labor	Tom Sheehan	Frank Preacher (Lib)	Arthur Brittain (LL) Frederick Fairbrother (Ind) Lance Sharkey (CPA)
Cowper	Country	George Mitchell	Sir Earle Page (CP)	Richard Williams (Ind)
Dalley	Labor	Sol Rosevear	Leslie Webster (Lib)	Kenneth Falvey (LL)
Darling	Labor	Joe Clark	Greg McGirr (CP)	Cyril Glassop (PPP)
East Sydney	Labor	Eddie Ward	Ivan Dougherty (Lib)	Wal Campbell (PPP)
Eden-Monaro	Labor	Allan Fraser	Allan Backhouse (CP) Denzil Macarthur-Onslow (Lib) Pat Osborne (CP)	Victor Brown (SP)
Gwydir	Labor	William Scully	Thomas Mort (Lib) Thomas Treloar (CP)	William Campbell (PPP) Tom Carmody (SP) George McDonald (Ind) Kevin Nott (Ind) Ben Wade (Ind CP)
Hume	Labor	Arthur Fuller	Geoffrey Davey (Lib) Warren McDonald (CP)
Hunter	Labor	Rowley James	Ted Fletcher (Lib)	John Cain (LL)
Lang	Labor	Dan Mulcahy	John Paget (Lib)	Sidney Bell (LL) Adam Ogston (CPA)
Macquarie	Labor	Ben Chifley	Eric Spooner (Lib) Cecil Williams (CP)	John Sutton (Ind)
Martin	Labor	Fred Daly	Frederick Jacobs (Lib)
New England	Country	Leigh Cuthbertson	Joe Abbott (CP)
Newcastle	Labor	David Watkins	Allen Fairhall (Lib)	Grahame Bland (SP) Arthur Clarke (SC) Edwin Dark (Ind) Stan Deacon (CPA) Charles Dicker (LL) Harry Ellis (SPA) Isabel Longworth (Ind) Frederick Wilson (Ind)
North Sydney	Liberal	Leo Haylen	Billy Hughes (Lib)
Parkes	Labor	Les Haylen	Athol Richardson (Lib)
Parramatta	Liberal	Dudley Jeffree	Howard Beale (Lib)
Reid	Labor	Charles Morgan	Jeffrey Blaxland (Lib)	William Beckett (SP) Jack Lang* (LL)
Richmond	Country	Keith Compton	Larry Anthony (CP)
Riverina	Labor	Joe Langtry	Christopher Lethbridge (Lib) Hugh Roberton (CP)	John Gosling (LL) William Pow (Ind)
Robertson	Labor	Thomas Williams	George Watkins (CP) Roy Wheeler (Lib)	Ian Grant (LL)
Warringah	Liberal	George Godfrey	Percy Spender (Lib)
Watson	Labor	Max Falstein	Charles de Monchaux (Lib)	Wallace Knox (SP) Charles Wilson (PPP)
Wentworth	Liberal	Jessie Street	Eric Harrison (Lib)	Charles Walsh (LL)
Werriwa	Labor	Bert Lazzarini	Ray Watson (Lib)	Les Mullin (CPA)
West Sydney	Labor	William O'Connor	John Mant (Lib)	Malinda Ivey (Ind) Stan Moran (CPA) Thomas Ryan (LL) Ronald Sarina (PPP)

Northern Territory

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Other candidates
Northern Territory	Independent	Bob Murray	Adair Blain* (Ind) Ralph Edwards (Ind) Leigh Wallman (Ind Lab)

Queensland

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Coalition candidate	Services candidate	Other candidates
Brisbane	Labor	George Lawson	Geoffrey Ward (Lib)	Gordon Olive
Capricornia	Labor	Frank Forde	Charles Davidson (Lib/CP)	Andrew Taylor
Darling Downs	Country	William English	Arthur Fadden (CP)	Maxwell Owen
Griffith	Labor	William Conelan	William Scott (Lib)	Arthur Chresby
Herbert	Labor	Bill Edmonds	Lloyd Roberts (CP)	Alexander McNamee	Jack Henry (CPA) Joseph Pollard (Ind)
Kennedy	Labor	Bill Riordan	Clement Cummings (CP)
Lilley	Labor	Jim Hadley	Charles Wilson (Lib)	George Mocatta
Maranoa	Country	John Dufficy	Charles Adermann (CP)	John Walker
Moreton	Liberal	Jack Perrett	Josiah Francis (Lib)	Charles McCormack
Wide Bay	Country	George Watson	Bernard Corser (CP)	Eric Paterson	Max Julius (CPA)

South Australia

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Liberal candidate	Other candidates
Adelaide	Labor	Cyril Chambers	Ian Hayward	Alf Watt (CPA)
Barker	Liberal	Harry Krantz	Archie Cameron	David Eddy (Ind)
Boothby	Labor	Thomas Sheehy	Keith Wilson
Grey	Labor	Edgar Russell	Oliver Badman
Hindmarsh	Labor	Albert Thompson	William Palmer	Alan Finger (CPA)
Wakefield	Labor	Albert Smith	Philip McBride	Frank Rieck (Ind)

Tasmania

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Liberal candidate	Independent candidates
Bass	Labor	Claude Barnard	Harry Spotswood	John Orchard
Darwin	Liberal	Harold Kirkpatrick	Dame Enid Lyons
Denison	Labor	Frank Gaha	Bruce Hamilton
Franklin	Labor	Charles Frost	Bill Falkinder
Wilmot	Liberal	Gil Duthie	Allan Guy

Victoria

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Coalition candidate	Other candidates
Balaclava	Liberal	Maurice Ashkanasy	Thomas White (Lib)
Ballaarat	Labor	Reg Pollard	Arnold Caddy (Lib)
Batman	Labor	Frank Brennan	John McColl (Lib)	Allan Brennan (Ind) George Oke (CPA)
Bendigo	Country	Ernest Duus	Joseph Hall (Lib) George Rankin* (CP)
Bourke	Labor	Bill Bryson	Russell Stokes (Lib)	Doris Blackburn* (Ind Lab) Henry Brand (SP)
Corangamite	Liberal	Henry Stacpoole	Allan McDonald (Lib)
Corio	Labor	John Dedman	Frederick Wallace (Lib)	Winifred West (Ind)
Deakin	Liberal	Arthur Smith	William Hutchinson (Lib)
Fawkner	Liberal	Bill Bourke	Harold Holt (Lib)	Mascotte Brown (Ind) Harold Rettig (SP)
Flinders	Liberal	Frank Lee	Rupert Ryan (Lib)
Gippsland	Country	Adam Keltie	George Bowden (CP)	Wally Williames (CPA)
Henty	Liberal	Val Doube	Jo Gullett (Lib)
Indi	Country		John McEwen (CP)	John Chanter (Ind CP)
Kooyong	Liberal	Albert Nicholls	Robert Menzies (Lib)	Ted Laurie (CPA)
Maribyrnong	Labor	Arthur Drakeford	Adrian Cole (Lib)
Melbourne	Labor	Arthur Calwell	Reg Cooper (Lib)
Melbourne Ports	Labor	Jack Holloway	Douglas Dennis (Lib)
Wannon	Labor	Don McLeod	Dan Mackinnon (Lib) Leonard Rodda (CP)
Wimmera	Country	Alfred Loveridge	Winton Turnbull (CP)
Yarra	Labor	James Scullin	Kenneth Bisney (Lib)	Ken Miller (CPA)

Western Australia

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Coalition candidate	Other candidates
Forrest	Labor	Nelson Lemmon	James Cumming (Lib) Jasper Norton (CP)
Fremantle	Labor	Kim Beazley	Claude Henderson (Lib)
Kalgoorlie	Labor	Herbert Johnson	Seddon Vincent (Lib)
Perth	Labor	Tom Burke	Jim Paton (Lib)	John Graham (SP) Kevin Healy (CPA) Robert Salter (Ind)
Swan	Labor	Don Mountjoy	Len Hamilton (CP)	Bill Grayden (Ind)

Senate

Sitting Senators are shown in bold text. Tickets that elected at least one Senator are highlighted in the relevant colour. Successful candidates are identified by an asterisk (*).

New South Wales

Three seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending three seats. Labor Senators Stan Amour, John Armstrong and Donald Grant were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	Coalition candidates	PPP candidates	Ungrouped candidates
Bill Ashley* James Arnold* William Large*	Alexander Mair (Lib) Albert Reid (CP) Maurice Fergusson (Lib)	George Durrance Thomas Fleming Dorothy Rogerson	Alexander Alexander Michael Satwell Louis Phillips Edith Cook

Queensland

Three seats were up for election. The Liberal-Country Coalition was defending three seats. Labor Senators Gordon Brown, Joe Collings and Ben Courtice were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	Coalition candidates	Services candidates
Harry Boland George Burns Tom Rasey	Walter Cooper* (CP) Neil O'Sullivan* (Lib) Annabelle Rankin* (Lib)	George Cameron Cranston McEachern Winifred Payne

South Australia

Three seats were up for election. The Liberal Party was defending three seats. Labor Senators Alex Finlay, Theo Nicholls and Sid O'Flaherty were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	Liberal candidates
Fred Beerworth* Jack Critchley* Frederick Ward*	George McLeay Ted Mattner James Murdoch

Tasmania

Three seats were up for election. The Liberal Party was defending three seats. Labor Senators Bill Aylett, Charles Lamp and Nick McKenna were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	Liberal candidates	Ungrouped candidates
Reg Murray* Bill Morrow* Justin O'Byrne* William Ritchie	Arthur Beck Herbert Hays Burford Sampson	Neil Burbury

Victoria

Four seats were up for election. One of these was a short-term vacancy caused by Labor Senator Richard Keane's death; this had been filled in the interim by the Country Party's Alexander Fraser. The Liberal-Country Coalition was defending three seats. The Labor Party was defending one seat. Labor Senators Don Cameron and Jim Sheehan were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	Coalition candidates
Bert Hendrickson* Charles Sandford* Fred Katz* Jack Devlin*	Charles Brand (Lib) Alexander Fraser (CP) John Leckie (Lib) William Moss (CP)

Western Australia

Three seats were up for election. The Liberal Party was defending two seats. The Labor Party was defending one seat. Labor Senators Robert Clothier, James Fraser and Richard Nash were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	Coalition candidates	Ungrouped candidates
Dorothy Tangney* John Harris* Joe Cooke*	Herbert Collett (Lib) Ignatius Boyle (CP) Allan MacDonald (Lib)	Claude Swaine Oliver Strang

Summary by party

Beside each party is the candidates put forward by that party in the House of Representatives for each state, as well as an indication of whether the party contested Senate elections in each state.

Party	NSW		Vic		Qld		WA		SA		Tas		Total
	HR	S	HR	S	HR	S	HR	S	HR	S	HR	S	HR	S
Australian Labor Party	28	*	19	*	10	*	5	*	6	*	5	*	73	6
Liberal Party of Australia	24	*	17	*	5	*	4	*	6	*	5	*	61	6
Australian Country Party	11	*	5	*	5	*	2	*					23	4
Services Party of Australia	6		2		10	*	1						19	1
Communist Party of Australia	5		4		2		1		2				14
Lang Labor	10												10
Protestant People's Party	5	*											5	1
Douglas Credit Party	1												1
Independent and other	12	*	5		1		2	*	2		1	*	23	3

See also

• 1946 Australian federal election
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1943–1946
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1946–1949
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1944–1947
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1947–1950
• List of political parties in Australia

References

• Adam Carr's Election Archive - House of Representatives 1946
• Adam Carr's Election Archive - Senate 1946