Elections were held in the

Australian state The states and territories are the national subdivisions and second level of government of Australia. The states are partially sovereignty, sovereign, administrative divisions that are autonomous administrative division, self-governing polity, ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

on 22 May 1915 to elect the 72 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The election was the second for the Liberal government of

Digby Denham Digby Frank Denham (25 January 1859 – 10 May 1944) was a politician and businessman in Queensland, Australia. He was a Premier of Queensland and Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. He was the first of only two Queensland Premiers t ...

, who had been

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

since 7 February 1911. The opposition Labor Party, led by T. J. Ryan, had two previous Premiers —

Anderson Dawson Andrew Dawson (16 July 1863 – 20 July 1910), usually known as Anderson Dawson, was an Australian politician and unionist who served as the 14th premier of Queensland for one week from the 1 to the 7 of December 1899. This short-lived premier ...

in 1899 and

William Kidston William Kidston (17 August 1849 – 25 October 1919) was an Australian bookseller, politician and Premier of Queensland, from January 1906 to November 1907 and again from February 1908 to February 1911. Early life William Kidston was born in F ...

in 1906 — but the former did not command a majority of parliamentary support, while the latter maintained it by splitting the Labor Party. Labor had never before held majority government. The election was the first in Australia to be conducted using

compulsory voting Compulsory voting, also called universal civic duty voting or mandatory voting, is the requirement that registered voters participate in an election. As of January 2023, 21 countries have compulsory voting laws. Law enforcement in those countries ...

due to Denham's concern that

Trade Unions A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

were effectively mobilising the ALP vote; he felt that compulsory voting would ensure a more level playing field. However, it turned out that the change to compulsory voting was not enough to save Denham's premiership. The election resulted in the defeat of the government, and Queensland's first majority Labor government. All except two members of the Ministry up for election, including Denham himself, lost their seats.

Key dates

Results

The election saw a landslide to Labor from the 1912 election. : 335,195 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 8 seats (11.1% of the total) were uncontested—6 Labor seats representing 24,564 enrolled voters, one Liberal seat representing 3,999 voters, and one Farmers' Union seat representing 4,571 voters.

Seats changing party representation

This table lists changes in party representation at the 1915 election. * Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.

Aftermath

This was the start of a period of Labor hegemony over the Assembly which lasted until 1957; the only breach was the Moore ministry of the 1929–1932 period.

References

{{Queensland elections Elections in Queensland 1915 elections in Australia 1910s in Queensland May 1915

Key dates

Results

Seats changing party representation

Aftermath

See also

References