From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

1958 Australian federal election

none

Field	Value
election_name	1958 Australian federal election
country	Australia
type	parliamentary
ongoing	no
previous_election	1955 Australian federal election
previous_year	1955
next_election	1961 Australian federal election
next_year	1961
outgoing_members	Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1955–1958
elected_members	Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1958–1961
registered	5,384,624 4.10%
turnout	5,141,109 (95.48%)
(0.48 pp)
seats_for_election	All 124 seats of the House of Representatives
62 seats were needed for a majority in the House
32 (of the 60) seats of the Senate
election_date	22 November 1958
<!-- Liberal/Country coalition -->	image1	File:Portrait_Menzies_1950s.jpg
image_size	190x190px
leader1	Robert Menzies
leader_since1	[23 September 1943](1943-united-australia-party-leadership-election)
party1	LiberalCountry Coalition
leaders_seat1	Kooyong (Vic.)
last_election1	75 seats
seats1	77
seat_change1	2
popular_vote1	2,298,512
percentage1	46.55%
swing1	1.12
1data1	54.10%
2data1	0.10
<!-- Australia Labor Party -->	image2	Image:Herbert V. Evatt.jpg
leader2	H. V. Evatt
leader_since2	[13 June 1951](1951-australian-labor-party-leadership-election)
party2	Australian Labor Party
leaders_seat2	Hunter (NSW)
(won seat)
last_election2	47 seats
seats2	45 + NT + ACT
seat_change2	2
popular_vote2	2,137,890
percentage2	42.81%
swing2	1.84
1data2	45.90%
2data2	0.10
1blank	TPP
2blank	TPP swing
map_image	1958 Australian federal election.svg
map_size	350px
map_caption	Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory.
title	Prime Minister
before_election	Robert Menzies
before_party	Liberal/Country coalition
posttitle	Subsequent Prime Minister
after_election	Robert Menzies
after_party	Liberal/Country coalition
vote_type	Primary

(0.48 pp) 62 seats were needed for a majority in the House 32 (of the 60) seats of the Senate

(won seat) A federal election was held in Australia on 22 November 1958. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives and 32 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies defeated the opposition Labor Party, led by H. V. Evatt.

Issues

In spite of a major global downturn in early 1958, the Coalition was returned to power and there was an even swing against the Labor Party. This was due largely to support for the breakaway Democratic Labor Party. This was the first Australian election campaign to be fought using television as a medium for communicating with voters. Menzies was interviewed on television, while opposition figures H. V. Evatt and Arthur Calwell took part in debates with ministers Harold Holt and William McMahon. Somewhat surprisingly Menzies emerged as a confident and effective television performer. This may have contributed to the better than expected result for the government.

Results

House of Representatives

Main article: Results of the 1958 Australian federal election (House of Representatives)

First preference votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change	Two-party-preferred (estimated)
Liberal–Country coalition	2,298,512	46.55	–1.12	77	+2
	Liberal	1,859,180	37.23	−2.53	58	+1
	Country	465,320	9.32	+1.41	19	+1
	Labor	2,137,890	42.81	−1.84	47	−2
	Democratic Labor	389,688	7.80	+2.63	0	0
	Queensland Labor	80,035	1.60	+1.60	0	0
	Communist	26,337	0.53	–0.63	0	0
	Nationalist	3,577	0.07	+0.07	0	0
	Independent	31,466	0.63	–0.74	0	0
Total	4,993,493			122
	Liberal–Country coalition	Win	54.10	−0.10	77	+2
	Labor		45.90	+0.10	45	−2

Senate

First preference votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held	Change
Liberal–Country coalition	2,084,193	45.19	–3.49	16	32
Liberal–Country joint ticket	1,077,586	23.36	–16.02	9	N/A
	Liberal	953,856	20.68	+12.02	6	25
	Country	52,751	1.14	+0.51	1	7
	Labor	1,973,027	42.78	+2.17	15	26
	Democratic Labor	314,755	6.82	+0.72	1	2
	Communist	134,263	2.91	−0.73	0	0
	Queensland Labor	73,037	1.66	+1.66	0	0
	Loyalist	4,459	0.10	+0.10	0	0
	True Democrat	4,337	0.09	+0.09	0	0
	Republican	3,715	0.08	+0.08	0	0
	Independents	20,273	0.44	–0.46	0	0
Total	4,612,059			32	60

Notes

The Democratic Labor Party was the renamed "Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist)" from the 1955 election.

Seats changing hands

Seat	Post-1958	Party	Member	Margin	Margin	Member	Party
Braddon, Tas	Liberal	Aubrey Luck	8.9	9.3	0.4	Ron Davies	Labor
Griffith, Qld	Labor	Wilfred Coutts	1.3	1.4	0.1	Arthur Chresby	Liberal
Herbert, Qld	Labor	Bill Edmonds	6.6	8.1	1.5	John Murray	Liberal
Indi, Vic	Liberal	William Bostock	N/A	28.6	6.5	Mac Holten	Country
Kalgoorlie, WA	Labor	Herbert Johnson	N/A	11.4	0.3	Peter Browne	Liberal
Moore, WA	Country	Hugh Leslie	100.0	52.9	2.9	Hugh Halbert	Liberal
St George, NSW	Liberal	Bill Graham	2.4	2.5	0.1	Lionel Clay	Labor
Stirling, WA	Labor	Harry Webb	2.8	3.0	0.2	Doug Cash	Liberal
Wimmera, Vic	Liberal	William Lawrence	N/A	22.7	5.9	Robert King	Country

Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.

Notes

References

University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
AEC 2PP vote
Adam Carr's Election Archive - Senate 1958

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

federal-elections-in-australia 1958-elections-in-australia november-1958-in-australia

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1958 Australian federal election — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report