1904 Melbourne by-election

March 2024 April 2022 1904 Melbourne by-election Australia Parliamentary no 1903 Australian federal election 1903 30 March 1904 1906 Australian federal election 1906 16,700 (62.62%) 26,669 The Melbourne seat in the House of Representatives William Maloney William Maloney1.jpg Australian Labor Party 8,667 52.61% 2.86 Malcolm McEacharn Malcolm McEacharn.jpg Protectionist Party 7,808 47.39% 2.86 MP Malcolm McEacharn Protectionist Party William Maloney Labour A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Melbourne in Victoria on 30 March 1904. This was triggered by the Chief Justice of the High Court (sitting as a Court of Disputed Elections) declaring invalid the election of Sir Malcolm McEacharn to the seat in the 1903 federal election.Maloney v McEacharn No 1 Chanter v Blackwood#Maloney v McEacharn 1904 HCA 3 (1904) 1 CLR 77 and Maloney v McEacharn No 2 (1904) 10 Argus LR (CN) 17 The writ for the by-election was issued by the Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives on 15 March 1904.Federal Affairs – The Melbourne Election The Advertiser 15 March 1904 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4952203 Trove Background The 1903 federal election took place on 16 December. Sir Malcolm McEacharn had held the seat for the Protectionist Party since the 1901 election, and was re-elected with a slim 77 vote majority. McEacharn's opponent in 1901 and 1903 was Dr William Maloney, a medical doctor, social worker and reform agitator who had run for the Labour Party. Following the declaration of McEacharn's election, Maloney petitioned the Court of Disputed Elections, alleging that the applications for 303 ballot papers had been improperly attested by persons unqualified to do so, including police constables, sergeants and other unqualified persons. In addition, 66 postal ballots were examined, and were likewise ruled invalid as having been recorded on material other than ordinary ballot papers. In all, between 240 and 250 "bad votes" were cast for McEacharn, easily negating his 77-vote majority.Disputed Elections – Judgment on Points of Law – Sir Malcolm McEacharn Unseated The Advertiser 11 March 1904 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4952203 Trove The Chief Justice took the view that if the votes had been informal through any fault of the voters concerned, the votes would have been voided and Maloney elected. However, as the informality had arisen through the fault of Commonwealth electoral officers, he would have to rule the election invalid, thus triggering a by-election. Results 1904 Melbourne by-electionAdam Carr http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/1903/melb1903.txt 1904 Melbourne by-election Psephos: Adam Carr's Election Archive 2021-03-19Commonwealth By-elections 1901–82 1983 Australian Electoral Office Canberra William Maloney Labour 8,667 52.61 +2.86 Sir Malcolm McEacharn Protectionist 7,808 47.39 −2.86 16,475 98.65 +0.05 225 1.35 −0.05 26,669 16,700 62.62 +4.11 Labour Protectionist +2.86 Aftermath A 2.86 per cent swing towards Labour saw Dr Maloney elected, and the seat of Melbourne was held by the ALP until 2010. Following his defeat, McEacharn abandoned not only politics but Australia, leaving the country in 1905 and moving to Wigtownshire in Scotland, where he purchased the ancestral home of the Earl of Galloway.David Dunstan mceacharn-sir-malcolm-donald-7350 McEacharn, Sir Malcolm Donald (1852-1910) 10 1986 263-264 2021-03-19 See also Electoral results for the Division of Melbourne List of Australian federal by-elections References   Category:1904 elections in Australia Category:Victorian federal by-elections Category:1900s in Melbourne Category:March 1904 in Australia