Percival Hillam Quirke (29 July 1898 – 25 March 1972) was an Australian politician. A farmer and soldier prior to entering politics, Quirke contested the normally safely conservative federal seat of

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

in a 1938 by-election as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

. He finished a distant third on the primary vote, with 22.8 percent behind former

Liberal and Country League The South Australian Liberal Party, officially known as the Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division), and often shortened to SA Liberals, is the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia. It was formed as the Lib ...

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 ...

Richard Layton Butler Sir Richard Layton Butler KCMG (31 March 1885 – 21 January 1966) was the 31st Premier of South Australia, serving two disjunct terms in office: from 1927 to 1930, and again from 1933 to 1938. Early life Born on a farm near Gawler, South Aust ...

and

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 ...

challenger

Sydney McHugh Sydney McHugh (21 March 1892 – 20 September 1952) was an Australian politician. Born in Quorn, South Australia, he was educated at state schools before becoming a farmer and grazier. He served in the military from 1914 to 1918, during World Wa ...

. However, on the second count, almost 83 percent of his preferences flowed to McHugh, enough for McHugh to decisively defeat Butler with 56 percent of the two-party vote. Quirke later won the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly (also known as the lower house) is one of two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assem ...

seat of

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

, serving from 1941 to 1948 as a Labor member. He left Labor in 1948 and continued to contest and win the seat of Stanley as an

. When Stanley was abolished in the redistribution preceding the 1956 election, he contested and won the seat of Burra, defeating incumbent LCL member George Hawker. He joined the LCL in 1963, continuing to hold Burra until he resigned from politics in 1968. Quirke and the other independent in the legislature,

Tom Stott Tom Cleave Stott Order of the British Empire, CBE (6 June 1899 – 21 October 1976) spent 37 years as an independent member of the South Australian House of Assembly, from 1933 to 1970. He served as Speaker of the South Australian House of Assemb ...

held the balance of power at the 1962 election. They both provided

confidence and supply In parliamentary system, parliamentary democracies based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply is an arrangement under which a minority government (one which does not control a majority in the legislature) receives the support of one ...

to the Playford

(LCL) as a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...

in the

hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system (typically employing Majoritarian representation, majoritarian electoral systems) to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing ...

, allowing Playford to remain in power for what would be his final term. Stott became

Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly The Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly is the presiding officer of the South Australian House of Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of South Australia. The other presiding officer is the President of the South Australian ...

following the election. In 1963 Quirke ceased being an independent, joined the LCL, and served in the Playford LCL ministry in the portfolios of Irrigation, Lands, and Repatriation until the LCL lost government at the 1965 election.

References

Members of the South Australian House of Assembly 1972 deaths 1898 births Liberal and Country League politicians Independent members of the Parliament of South Australia 20th-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Independent-politician-stub