ELECTIONS FOR THE DIVISION OF BLAND, NEW SOUTH WALES ==================================================================== ELECTION OF 29-30 MARCH 1901 ==================================================================== Southern NSW: Coolamon, Narrandera, Wagga Wagga, West Wyalong -------------------------------------------------------------------- Enrolled voters: 10,996 Votes cast: 7,370 67.0 Informal votes: 175 02.4 Formal votes: 7,195 97.6 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Candidate Party Votes % -------------------------------------------------------------------- Patrick Heffernan 2,271 31.6 William Lucas FT 792 11.0 Chris WATSON Lab 4,132 57.4 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 7,195 12.9 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Watson was also endorsed by the ALA. 2. Heffernan was an independent protectionist candidate. -------------------------------------------------------------------- John Christian Watson (1867-1941): Elected 1901 Born: 1867, Valparaiso, Chile (see below) Career: Primary education New Zealand. Migrated 1886. Compositor and unionist. President NSW Trades and Labor Council 1893-95. Colonial politics: NSW MLA for Young 1894-1901. Leader of the Labour Party from 8 May 1901 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Watson was born while the ship on which his parents were travelling was visiting Chile. His father was an Austrian sailor named Johann Tanck. His mother settled in New Zealand and later married a man named Watson. He was therefore not a British subject by birth or naturalisation and was thus ineligible for election to the NSW and Commonwealth parliaments. These facts did not become known till after his death. 2. Watson was elected Leader of the Labour Party at its first Caucus meeting when the Parliament assembled in Melbourne. -------------------------------------------------------------------- ELECTION OF 16 DECEMBER 1903 ==================================================================== Southern NSW: Coolamon, Narrandera, Wagga Wagga, West Wyalong -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1901 majority: Labour over Independent 12.9 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Enrolled voters: 20,861 +89.7 Votes cast: 8,960 43.0 -24.0 Informal votes: 327 03.6 +01.2 Formal votes: 8,633 96.4 -01.2 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Candidate Party Votes % Swing -------------------------------------------------------------------- John Longmuir FT 3,854 44.6 +33.6 Chris WATSON * Lab 4,779 55.4 -02.0 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 8,633 05.4 -------------------------------------------------------------------- John Christian Watson (1867-1941): Elected 1901, 1903 Prime Minister 27 April 1904 to 17 August 1904 Treasurer 27 April 1904 to 17 August 1904 Leader of the Opposition 18 August 1904 to 5 July 1905 Leader of the Labour Party -------------------------------------------------------------------- Watson assumed office after Deakin's resignation and Reid's refusal to form a government. He resigned when defeated in the House on a recommital motion relating to the Conciliation and Arbitration Bill. He was not only Australia's first Labour Prime Minister, but the first head of a democratically elected social democratic national government anywhere in the world. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bland was abolished at the 1906 redistribution. Watson contested South Sydney in 1906. --------------------------------------------------------------------