Members of the Australian Senate, 1914–1917

This is a list of members of the Australian Senate from 1914 to 1917.^[1] The 5 September 1914 election was a double dissolution called by Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Cook in an attempt to gain control of the Senate. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Commonwealth Liberal Party was defeated by the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Andrew Fisher, who announced with the outbreak of World War I during the campaign that under a Labor government, Australia would "stand beside the mother country to help and defend her to the last man and the last shilling."^[2]

Composition 1914-1916
Government (31) - (12 seat majority)
  Labor (31)

Opposition (5)
  Liberal (5)

Composition 1917
Government (17) - (2 seat minority)
  Nationalist (17)

Opposition (19)
  Labor (19)

In accordance with section 13 of the Constitution,^[3] terms for senators was taken to commence on 1 July 1914. The Senate resolved that in each State the three senators who received the most votes would sit for a six-year term, finishing on 30 June 1920 while the other half would sit for a three-year term, finishing on 30 June 1917.^[4]

In September 1916, 24 Labor members of the House of Representatives and the Senate—including Prime Minister Billy Hughes—were expelled for their support of conscription during World War I and later formed the National Labor Party, which merged with the Commonwealth Liberal Party in February 1917 to form the Nationalist Party (Australia).

Senator	Party		State	Term ending	Years in office
Thomas Bakhap		Liberal/Nationalist	Tasmania	1917	1913–1923
Stephen Barker		Labor	Victoria	1920	1910–1920, 1923–1924
John Barnes		Labor	Victoria	1920	1913–1920, 1923–1935
Albert Blakey		Labor	Victoria	1917	1910–1917
Richard Buzacott		Labor/Nationalist	Western Australia	1917	1910–1923
Hugh de Largie		Labor/Nationalist	Western Australia	1917	1901–1923
John Earle [lower-alpha 1]		Nationalist	Tasmania	1917[lower-alpha 2]	1917–1923
Myles Ferricks		Labor	Queensland	1920	1913–1920
Edward Findley		Labor	Victoria	1917	1904–1917, 1923–1929
Albert Gardiner		Labor	New South Wales	1920	1910–1926, 1928
Thomas Givens		Labor/Nationalist	Queensland	1920	1904–1928
Albert Gould		Liberal/Nationalist	New South Wales	1917	1901–1917
John Grant		Labor	New South Wales	1920	1914–1920, 1923–1928
Robert Guthrie		Labor/Nationalist	South Australia	1917	1904–1921
James Guy		Labor	Tasmania	1920	1914–1920
George Henderson		Labor/Nationalist	Western Australia	1917	1904–1923
John Keating		Liberal/Nationalist	Tasmania	1917	1901–1923
James Long		Labor	Tasmania	1920	1910–1918
Patrick Lynch		Labor/Nationalist	Western Australia	1920	1907–1938
William Maughan		Labor	Queensland	1920	1913–1920
Allan McDougall		Labor	New South Wales	1920	1910–1920, 1922–1924
Andrew McKissock		Labor	Victoria	1917	1914–1917
Edward Millen		Liberal/Nationalist	New South Wales	1917	1901–1923
John Mullan		Labor	Queensland	1917	1913–1917
Ted Needham		Labor	Western Australia	1920	1907–1920, 1923–1929
John Newlands		Labor/Nationalist	South Australia	1920	1913–1932
David O'Keefe		Labor	Tasmania	1920	1901–1906, 1910–1920
James O'Loghlin		Labor	South Australia	1920	1907, 1913–1920, 1923–1925
George Pearce		Labor/Nationalist	Western Australia	1920	1901–1938
Rudolph Ready [lower-alpha 1]		Labor	Tasmania	1917	1910–1917
James Rowell [lower-alpha 3]		Nationalist	South Australia	1917[lower-alpha 2]	1917–1923
Edward Russell		Labor/Nationalist	Victoria	1920	1907–1925
William Senior		Labor/Nationalist	South Australia	1917	1913–1923
John Shannon		Liberal/Nationalist	South Australia	1920	1912–1913, 1914–1920
James Stewart		Labor	Queensland	1917	1901–1917
William Story [lower-alpha 3]		Labor/Nationalist	South Australia	1917	1904–1917
Harry Turley		Labor	Queensland	1917	1904–1917
David Watson		Labor	New South Wales	1917	1914–1917

Notes

1. Labor senator Rudolph Ready resigned on 1 March 1917; on the same day Nationalist John Earle was appointed to replace him.
2. Appointed to a casual vacancy and only held office until the earlier of the next election for the House of Representatives or the Senate.^[5]
3. Nationalist senator William Story resigned on 24 April 1917 to run successfully for the House of Representatives seat of Boothby; on 24 May 1917 Nationalist James Rowell—who had been elected at the 5 May 1917 election for a term commencing on 1 July 1917—was appointed to replace him.

References

1. "The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate 1915". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
2. Murphy, D. J. "Fisher, Andrew (1862-1928)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
3. Constitution (Cth) s 13.
4. "Rotation of Senators" (PDF). Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Commonwealth of Australia: Senate. 9 October 1914. p. 41.
5. Evans, H. "Filling Casual Vacancies before 1977" (PDF). Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 24 February 2017.

• Journals of the Senate. Parliament of Australia. 1917.
• "Members of the Senate since 1901". Parliamentary Handbook. Parliament of Australia. Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 11 December 2008.