Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 7 March 1953 to elect the 75 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The Labor government was seeking its eighth continuous term in office since the 1932 election. It was the first electoral test for Vince Gair, who had become Premier of Queensland 14 months earlier after the death of Ned Hanlon.
Key dates Date Event 6 February 1953 The Parliament was dissolved. 6 February 1953 Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election. 13 February 1953 Close of nominations. 7 March 1953 Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. 16 March 1953 The Gair Ministry was reconstituted. 5 June 1953 The writ was returned and the results formally declared. 4 August 1953 Parliament was summoned for business.
Results
The result was a considerable swing to the Labor government.
737,579 electors were enrolled to vote at the election; however, 11 seats (14.7% of the total) were uncontested, eight of them Labor-held seats representing 49,466 enrolled voters, as well as two Country seats representing 20,053 voters and one Liberal seat representing 10,711 voters.
Seats changing party representation
This table lists changes in party representation at the 1953 election.
Seat Incumbent member Party New member PartyCondamineEric Allpass CountryLes Diplock LaborCookCarlisle Wordsworth CountryBunny Adair LaborMulgraveBob Watson CountryCharles English LaborNormanLouis Luckins LiberalBill Baxter LaborRomaWilliam Ewan CountryAlfred Dohring LaborSandgateEric Decker LiberalHerbert Robinson LaborSomersetDuncan MacDonald CountryAlexander Skinner Labor
Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats. In addition, Labor retained the seat of Kedron, which it had won from the Liberals at the 1951 by-election.
See also Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1950–1953 Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1953–1956 Candidates of the Queensland state election, 1953 Gair Ministry
References