This is the full list of members who served in the eighth House of Representatives from 1919 until 1922.

In a 75-member chamber, the Nationalist Party government of Prime Minister William Morris Hughes was re-elected at the December 13, 1919 election, winning 37 (-16) seats to the ALP’s 25 (+3). Newly-formed “country” parties (state-based) won 11 seats and there were two independents. Whilst the Hughes government technically lost its outright majority, it nevertheless commanded a comfortable majority in the House.

The Nationalists polled 45.07% of the primary vote, a loss of 9.15%. The ALP, led by Frank Tudor, polled 42.49%, a decrease of 1.45%. The “country” parties polled 9.26%. In the first federal election to use compulsory preferential voting, the Nationalists polled an estimated 54.10% of the two-party-preferred vote, to the ALP’s 45.90%.

Two referendums were held in conjunction with the election. They sought to extend Commonwealth power over trade and commerce, corporation, industrial matters, trusts and monopolies. Both were defeated with Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia voting Yes to each question and New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania voting No.

There were six by-elections in the Eighth Parliament. One former prime minister retired, one future prime minister returned and the incumbent Opposition Leader died.

• Ballaarat (Vic) – 1920 – At the 1919 election, Edwin Kerby (Nat) won Ballaarat by one vote against the sitting member, David McGrath (ALP), who challenged the result. The election was voided and McGrath won the by-election.
• Kalgoorlie (WA) – 1920 – At the instigation of Hughes, Hugh Mahon (ALP) was expelled by a vote of the House. George Foley (Nat) won the by-election.
• Maranoa (Qld) – 1921 – Jim Page (ALP) had held Maranoa since 1901, winning eight elections. After his death, the by-election was won by the Country Party’s James Hunter.
• West Sydney (NSW) – 1921 – T.J. (Tom) Ryan was seen as a future Labor leader. Asked by a special resolution of the ALP federal conference to enter federal politics, he won West Sydney in 1919 but died less than two years later. William Lambert (ALP) won the by-election.
• Parramatta (NSW) – 1921 – Former PM Joseph Cook (Nat) resigned and took up the position of High Commissioner in London. Herbert Pratten (Nat) won the by-election.
• Yarra (Vic) – 1921 – The leader of the ALP, Frank Tudor, died. A future Labor prime minister, James Scullin, formerly the member for Corangamite (1910-1913) won the by-election. Ryan’s death just five months earlier deprived the ALP of its preferred leader and Matthew Charlton was elected instead.

The first table shows the state-by-state breakdown of the House following the 1917 election. See below for some explanations of the difficulties in designating party affiliations.

The second table lists the 81 members who served in the 8th House of Representatives, 75 elected at the general election in 1919, plus six who entered via by-elections.

Notes on Party Designations

The composition of the 8th Parliament is disputed.

See here: Parliamentary Library 1, or Parliamentary Library 2, or Wikipedia, or Psephos.

The major problem is that some members joined the Country Party when it was officially formed in 1920. Some of these members were initially Nationalists or Independent Nationalists. Some were elected as representatives of different farmers’ organisations: the Victorian Farmers’ Union, Farmers and Settlers, Nationalist and Farmers, Primary Producers’ Union and Farmers’ Candidate.

There seems to be general agreement that the Country Party had 12 members by the end of the parliament’s term. However, some sources give them 11 at the start of the term. Some sources simply list individual members as “country parties”.

Nationalist Party

Some sources have the Nationalists coming out of the election with 37 members, one short of an absolute majority. Others put the number at 40. If I adopt a strict policy of counting members according to what they ran as, I can get to 42. Some instances:

Alexander Hay, the member for New England, began his term as a Nationalist. He joined the Country Party in 1920 but was expelled from it in 1922. He contested the 1922 election as an independent and was defeated.

Llewellyn Atkinson, the member for Wilmot (Tas), was first elected in 1906 as a Free Trader/Anti-Socialist. He became a Liberal in 1909 and then a Nationalist in 1917. He joined the Country Party in 1921, stayed with them for seven years and then returned to the Nationalists.

In these two cases, I count the member as a Nationalist at the start of the 1919-1922 term. Ditto with William Fleming, the member for Robertson (NSW). He entered the House as a Liberal in 1913, became a Nationalist and then joined the Country Party in 1920. I count him as a Nationalist at the 1919 election, as I do with Henry Gregory, the member for Dampier (WA) and a couple of others.

Classification difficulties are exemplified by William McWilliams, the member for Franklin (Tas). Elected in 1903 on a tariff platform, he became an Anti-Socialist in 1906, joined the LIberals in 1909 and the Nationalists in 1917. In 1920 he became the first leader of the Country Party, lost the leadership in 1921 and then lost his seat in 1922, contesting the 1925 election as a Nationalist and then winning Franklin back in 1928 as an independent.

Country Party Definites

I count six members as Country Party representatives following the 1919 election.

There were five Victorians all supported by the Victorian Farmers’ Union. One of them, Edmund Jowett, the member for Grampians (Vic), sat as a Nationalist until 1920.

There are two members calling themselves Farmers and Settlers. They include Earle Page, the member for Cowper (NSW), who would go on to be the Country Party’s leader and a key player the Bruce-Page government in the 1920s. Page served as prime minister for three weeks in 1939 and held Cowper for 41 years.

The Country Party gained one member from the by-election in Maranoa in 1921, taking the seat from the ALP.

With the addition of Atkinson, Fleming, Gregory and McWilliams, the Country Party’s numbers rise to twelve by the end of the 8th Parliament.

The ALP – 25 or 26 Members?

I can find 25 ALP members following the 1919 election. Some sources put the number at 26. This may be because they count Michael Considine, the member for Barrier (NSW) as an ALP number. I have counted him as an independent because my research shows he contested the election as an independent and then represented himself as a member of the Industrial Socialist Labor Party in 1920. He was elected as a Labor member in 1917.

Alternatively, James Catts, who had represented Cook since 1906, was expelled from the ALP in 1922. He is sometimes excluded from the official list of ALP members. I have left him in.

The other contentious call is William Higgs, the member forCapricornia since 1910 and a Labor senator (1901-06). Whilst staying with Labor after the conscription split, Higgs had policy disagreements with Hughes. He was expelled from the party in January 1920, sat as an independent and then joined the Nationalists. I count him as Labor vote at the 1919 election.

Conclusion

The aim of these pages is to show every MP who sat in the House during each parliament. However we classify their allegiances at various points, the list of 81 members on this page is accurate and complete.