House of Representatives Members – 6th Parliament 1914-1917

This is the full list of members who served in the sixth House of Representatives from 1914 until 1917.

In a 75-member chamber, the Liberal Party lost its majority at the September 5, 1914 double dissolution election, bringing Prime Minister Joseph Cook’s government to an end after just 14 months. Andrew Fisher became prime minister for the third time. The ALP won 42 seats (+5) to the Liberal Party’s 32 (-6). There was one independent Labor member (George Wise).

The ALP polled 50.89% of the primary vote, an increase of 2.42%. The Liberal Party polled 47.21%, a decrease of 1.73%.

In 1915, following Fisher’s resignation and posting to England as High Commissioner, William Morris Hughes became leader of the ALP and Prime Minister. In 1916, Hughes held a plebiscite on conscription for service in the war. The plebiscite was narrowly rejected. Hughes and his supporters walked out of the Caucus and were expelled from the ALP. Frank Tudor was elected leader of the ALP.

Hughes called his group of defectors the National Labor Party. He stayed in office as prime minister of a minority government, supported by the Liberal Party. In early 1917, the National Labor Party merged with the Liberal Party, which was renamed the Nationalist Party. Joseph Cook stood aside as leader, as he had done for Deakin during Fusion in 1909-10, and Hughes became leader and remained prime minister. At the May 1917 general election, the Nationalists won a landslide victory against the remnants of the ALP.

There were four by-elections in the 6th Parliament:

• Bendigo – 1915 – John Arthur (ALP) died and was replaced by Alfred Hampson (ALP)
• Grampians – 1915 – Edward Jolley (ALP) died and the seat was won by the Liberal Party’s Carty Salmon
• Dalley – 1915 – Robert Howe (ALP) died and was replaced by William Mahony (ALP)
• Wide Bay – 1915 – Andrew Fisher (ALP) resigned and the seat was won by the Liberal Party’s Ernest Corser

The first table below shows the state-by-state breakdown of the election results. The second table shows the state-by-state breakdown of the House in 1917, following the ALP Split. The third table lists the 79 members who served in the 6th House of Representatives, 75 elected at the general election in 1913, plus four who entered via by-elections. George Wise, elected as an Independent Labor candidate, joined the Nationalist Party, following the ALP split.