The Liberal Union was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

resulting from a merger between the Liberal and Democratic Union (LDU) and the two

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conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

parties, the Australasian National League (ANL, formerly National Defence League (NDL)) and the Farmers and Producers Political Union (FPPU) as a response to

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 ...

successes culminating in South Australia's first

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. Such a government can consist of one party that holds a majority on its own, or be a coalition government of multi ...

at the 1910 election. The Liberal Union was created in 1910 after the LDU, the ANL and the FPPU endorsed a shared "Liberal" slate of candidates at that year's election. The parties readily approved the merger, however, the LDU which salvaged the fewest of their principles from the merger were more hesitant. LDU leader

Archibald Peake Archibald Henry Peake (15 January 1859 – 6 April 1920) was an Australian politician. He was Premier of South Australia on three occasions: from 1909 to 1910 for the Liberal and Democratic Union, and from 1912 to 1915 and 1917 to 1920 for ...

persuaded a party conference that 'the day of the middle party is passed', and approved the merger by just one vote. The Liberal Union was affiliated to the federal Nationalist Party. Unusually, the Nationalist Party in South Australia was composed of members of two separate parties, the Liberal Union and the National Party, which caused significant tensions when the two parties had a bitter falling out and ran competing slates of candidates at the 1922 federal election. The Liberal Union amalgamated with the National Party to form the Liberal Federation in October 1923.

Parliamentary leaders

(1910–1920) *

Henry Barwell Sir Henry Newman Barwell KCMG (26 February 187730 September 1959) was the 28th premier of South Australia. Early life Born in Adelaide, South Australia, Barwell was educated at St Peter's College and the University of Adelaide, graduating in ...

(1920–1923)

References

Defunct liberal political parties Defunct political parties in South Australia Liberal parties in Australia 1910 establishments in Australia Political parties established in 1910 1923 disestablishments in Australia Political parties disestablished in 1923 {{liberalparty-stub

Parliamentary leaders

See also

References