by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

was held for the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...

seat of East Sydney on 7 March 1931. This was triggered by the death of

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

MP John West. The by-election was won by Labor candidate

Eddie Ward Edward John Ward (7 March 189931 July 1963) was an Australian politician who represented the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in Parliament of Australia, federal parliament for over 30 years. He was the member for Division of East Sydney, East Sydn ...

, who was associated with

New South Wales Premier The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster system, Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales actin ...

Jack Lang's wing of the party. This was the last by-election contested by the Nationalist Party as it would be replaced by the United Australia Party later that year.

Candidate selection

Businessman and Sydney alderman Lionel Courtenay won Nationalist

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...

for the by-election in February 1931, defeating fourteen other candidates including barrister Norman Cowper, former MLA's James Morrish and Thomas Morrow, former Australian cricket captain

Monty Noble Montague Alfred Noble (28 January 1873 – 22 June 1940) was an Australian cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-hand batsman, right-handed bowler who could deliver both medium pace and off-break bowling, capable field ...

, and aviator Keith Smith.

Results

References

{{Aus by-elections 12th parl 1931 elections in Australia New South Wales federal by-elections