Sydney McHugh (21 March 1892 – 20 September 1952) was an Australian politician. Born in

Quorn, South Australia Quorn is a small town and railhead in the Flinders Ranges region in the north of South Australia, northeast of Port Augusta, South Australia, Port Augusta. Situated on the traditional lands of the Nukunu people, the town now lies within the Fli ...

, he was educated at state schools before becoming a farmer and grazier. He served in the military from 1914 to 1918, during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 1924, he was elected to 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 ...

as the

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 ...

member for

Burra Burra Burra is a pastoral centre and historic tourist town in the mid-north of South Australia. It lies east of the Clare Valley in the Bald Hills range, part of the northern Mount Lofty Ranges, and on Burra Creek (South Australia), Burra Creek. The t ...

. He was defeated in 1927, but held the seat again from 1930 to 1933. He transferred to the

federal House of Representatives The House of Representatives (also called Green Chamber) is the lower chamber of Nigeria's bicameral National Assembly. The Senate is the upper chamber. The Green Chamber has 360 members who are elected in single-member constituencies using t ...

in 1938, winning a

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 ...

for the 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 ...

caused by the death of the sitting

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four Elections in Australia, federal elections in that time, usually governing Coalition (Australia), in coalition ...

member,

Charles Hawker Charles Allan Seymour Hawker (16 May 1894 – 25 October 1938) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for Wakefield from 1929 until his accidental death in 1938, representing the Nationalist Pa ...

. McHugh faced long odds on paper. He needed a seemingly daunting 13 percent swing to win the seat, and his UAP opponent was former South Australian Premier

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 ...

. However, on the third count, independent

Percy Quirke 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 in a 1938 by-election as an i ...

's preferences flowed overwhelmingly to McHugh, allowing McHugh to take the seat on a shocking 20 percent swing. The seat's conservative nature reasserted itself in the 1940 election, when McHugh was defeated by UAP challenger

Jack Duncan-Hughes John Grant "Jack" Duncan-Hughes (1 September 1882 – 13 August 1962) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for Boothby from 1922 to 1928, of the Australian Senate for South Australia fr ...

, the former member for Boothby. McHugh returned to state politics, winning the seat of

Light Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...

in 1941 and holding it until 1944. He died in 1952 (aged 60).

References

Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Wakefield Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the South Australian House of Assembly 1892 births 1952 deaths People from Quorn, South Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of South Australia Farmers from South Australia Australian MPs 1937–1940 {{Australia-Labor-representative-stub