1928 Hamilton state by-election
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The 1928 Hamilton state by-election was held on 8 September 1928 to elect the member for Hamilton in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, following the death of Labor Party MP David Murray.[1][2]
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8 September 1928
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Electoral district of Hamilton in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 17,398 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 70.9% ( 14.1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hamilton had been won by Labor with 58.6% of the vote when it was first contested at the 1927 state election.[3] However, Labor lost more than 10% of its vote at the by-election and only narrowly retained the seat against Protestant Independent Labour Party candidate Walter Skelton, with James Smith elected with 51.2% of the two-candidate-preferred vote.[4][5] Skelton would have likely won if all Nationalist Party voters exercised their second preferences, something they were not required to do under the optional preferential voting system.[6][7]
Key events
- 8 May 1928 â David Murray died[8]
- 14 August 1928 â Writ of election issued by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly[9]
- 21 August 1928 â Candidate nominations[10][11]
- 8 September 1928 â Polling day
- 21 September 1928 â Return of writ
Candidates
| Party | Candidate | Background | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nationalist | Henry Cornish | Alderman on Newcastle Municipal Council and former mayor of Newcastle[12][13][14] | |
| Independent Labor[15][16] | James Iceton | Mining check inspector who had contested Labor preselection[17][18][19] | |
| Protestant Labour | Walter Skelton | Former MP for Newcastle[20][21] | |
| Labor | James Smith | Bricklayer and union official[22][23] | |
Result
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | James Smith | 5,851 | 48.0 | â10.6 | |
| Protestant Labour | Walter Skelton | 4,851 | 38.8 | +31.5 | |
| Nationalist | Henry Cornish | 1,468 | 12.0 | â8.5 | |
| Independent Labor | James Iceton | 23 | 0.2 | +0.2 | |
| Total formal votes | 12,193 | 98.9 | +1.0 | ||
| Informal votes | 140 | 1.1 | â1.0 | ||
| Turnout | 12,333 | 70.9 | â14.1 | ||
| Two-candidate-preferred result | |||||
| Labor | James Smith | 5,968 | 51.2 | +51.2 | |
| Protestant Labour | Walter Skelton | 5,684 | 48.8 | +48.8 | |
| Labor hold | Swing | N/A | |||