Electoral district of Stanley (South Australia)

This article is about the historical South Australian state electorate. For the historical Queensland state electorate, see Electoral district of Stanley (Queensland).

Stanley was an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian state of South Australia.

Stanley South Australia—House of Assembly
State	South Australia
Created	1862
Abolished	1956
Demographic	Rural

First incarnation

The first incarnation of the electoral district of Stanley was created in 1851 to elect a single member to the unicameral South Australian Legislative Council. The seat was abolished in 1857, with William Younghusband having been the sole member for the duration.

Created by the state's Legislative Council Act of 1851, the extent was formally defined as the entirety of the cadastral County of Gawler (excluding the township of Gawler) and County of Stanley as well as a huge swathe of sparsely-settled land to the north, but excluding all of the Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas.

Second incarnation

The second incarnation of the electorate was created by the Electoral Act (No. 20) of the South Australian parliament in 1861 but it was not until the state election of 1862 election that candidates were first elected to represent Stanley. The extent was formally defined as the entirety of the cadastral counties of Gawler and Stanley, the latter being the source of the district name. Thus, at its creation, the electorate stretched from Gulf St Vincent and the Hummocks on the west from Port Gawler up to Redhill, spanning the Adelaide Plains and Mid North to the cadastral counties boundary line in the east – roughly a line passing from Gawler through Stockport and Mintaro to Booborowie.

In the ten years from 1862, the chief polling place was listed as Clare, with subsidiary polling places at Auburn, Mudla Wirra (Gawler), and Baker's Springs (Rhynie).

The Electoral Districts Act (No. 27) in 1872 dramatically changed the boundaries of the district, with the new electoral district of Wooroora being created largely by the excision of Stanley's southernmost half, and the new north western borders for Stanley being significantly extended to include Port Pirie and Port Broughton.

Townships served by the seat of Stanley from 1875 included Port Pirie, Crystal Brook, Clare, Snowtown and Port Broughton.

Members

Two members (1862–1902)
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	G. S. Kingston		1862–1880		George Young		1862–1865
					H. E. Bright		1865–1875
					Charles Mann		1875–1881
	Alfred Catt		1881–1884		J. H. Howe		1881–1884
	E. W. Hawker		1884–1889		John Miller		1884–1885
					John Darling Sr.		1885–1887
					Charles Kimber		1887–1890
	P. P. Gillen		1889–1896
					John Miller		1890–1893
					E. W. Hawker	Defence League	1893–1896
	W. P. Cummins		1896–1902		John Miller		1896–1902

Three members (1902–1915)
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	W. P. Cummins	National League	1902–1906		Alfred Catt		1902–1904		F. W. Young	National League	1902–1905
						Farmers and Producers	1904–1906		Clarence Goode	Labor	1905–1915
		Liberal and Democratic	1906–1907		Harry Jackson	Labor	1906–1915
	K. W. Duncan	Farmers and Producers	1907–1910
	William Cole	Labor	1910–1915

Two members (1915–1938)
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	Robert Nicholls	Liberal Union	1915–1923		Henry Barwell	Liberal Union	1915–1923
		Liberal Federation	1923–1932			Liberal Federation	1923–1925
					John Lyons	Liberal Federation	1925–1932
		Liberal and Country	1932–1938			Liberal and Country	1932–1938

Single-member (1938–1956)
Member		Party	Term
	Alexander Melrose	Liberal and Country	1938–1941
	Percy Quirke	Labor	1941–1948
		Independent	1948–1956

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Stanley (South Australia)

External links

• The 13 electorates from 1902 to 1915: The Adelaide Chronicle