This is the 15th article in a series of columns written by Alan Henderson about Deniliquin district historical events and issues. In retirement he has written a family history, Boots, Gold and Wool, and will share some of his research in this local history column.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
NSW electors are off to the polls on March 25.
Electors in Deniliquin have been doing so periodically since 1859, and the forthcoming state election will be the 40th since 1901.
The NSW Electoral Reform Act of 1858 introduced significant reforms, enabling almost every male to vote and to do so in secret. Women obtained the right to vote in 1902.
With the secret ballot from 1859, and universal suffrage from 1902, Deniliquin citizens have been democratically privileged for a long time, judged by international standards.
Deniliquin has been in the seat of Murray since 1859, except for a brief period - 1999 to 2015 - when it was in the seat of Murray-Darling.
In that 164-year period, Deniliquin has been represented by a total of 26 members, including the first, John Hay, and the current member, Helen Dalton.
For two periods - 1880-1894 and 1920-27 - Murray was a multi-member electorate, with two representatives in the former period and three in the latter.
One person, Joe Lawson, represented Deniliquin for 41 years, from 1932 to 1973.
Lawson was initially elected as a member of the Country Party, then as an Independent in his final two terms from 1968-1973.
Lawson’s daughter, Mary Meillon, representing the Liberal Party, succeeded him from 1973-1980.
The few members for Murray that have resided in Deniliquin, or the immediate district, include Robert Landale (1864-1869), Patrick Jennings (1869-1872), John Donovan (1930-1932), Joe Lawson, Mary Meillon and Jim Small (1985-1999).
No parliamentarians representing Deniliquin have become premier of the state, although Patrick Jennings - part-owner of Warbreccan pastoral station - subsequently became premier.
Jennings represented Murray from 1869 to 1872, and was premier for about 11 months from February 1886. By then he was representing the electorate of Bogan, centred on the Bogan River.
In the period 1889-1932 at least five members representing Murray attained ministerial rank, including John Chanter, James Hayes, George Beeby, Richard Ball and Mat Davidson.
The only subsequent representative of Murray to achieve ministerial rank in a NSW government has been Adrian Piccoli, who was Minister for Education from 2011-2017.
Piccoli initially represented the electorate of Murrumbidgee, then Murray from 2015 to 2017.
One former member for Murray (1980 to 1984), Tim Fischer, was elected to represent Farrer in the Federal Parliament and became leader of the National Party of Australia in 1990.
When the Coalition won office in 1996, Fischer became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade.
Initially all members of the NSW Parliament were independents, because there were no official parties until the Free Trade and Protectionist parties contested the 1887 election.
The sitting members for the then multi-member electorate of Murray - Robert Barbour and John Chanter - successfully contested the 1887 election as members of the Protectionist Party.
Subsequently there have been members for Murray from the Progressive, Labor, Nationalist, Country, National, and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers parties.
Since 1887 no candidates have been initially elected as independents in Murray, but several have become independents.
Vern Goodin was expelled from the Labor Party and sat as an independent, but lost in the following election in October 1927.
Joe Lawson, after representing the Country Party for 36 years, lost nomination for the party and successfully stood as an independent for a further two terms.
The current member, Helen Dalton, was elected in 2019 as a member of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party but has sat as an independent since resigning from the party in 2019. She is standing as an independent in the 2023 election.
No independent members for Murray have enjoyed even half the luck of Tony Windsor.
As both a member of the NSW Legislative Assembly (1991-2001) and the Federal House of Representatives (2001-2013), Windsor held the balance of power with other independents from 1991-1995 in NSW, and 2010-13 in the Federal Parliament.
The remarkable success of the Teal candidates in the Federal election in May 2022 has generated increased interest in independent candidates.
Many of the successful Teal candidates modelled their campaigns on the strategy developed by Cathy McGowan, who initially won the Federal seat of Indi in northeast Victoria in 2013.
McGowan had the advantage of challenging an unpopular sitting member, Sophie Mirabella.
Windsor, retiring from Parliament in 2013, helped McGowan’s campaign.
When asked “who will you miss the least”, Windsor replied “Ah, I’ve got to say it: Sophie Mirabella. She wins the nasty prize”. Ouch!
This comment was splashed across Albury-Wodonga’s The Border Mail. (’Cathy goes to Canberra’, Cathy McGowan, 2020, pages 62-63.)
In 2001, Sophie Mirabella defeated Sussan Ley in the Liberal Party preselection contest for Indi, notwithstanding Ley’s greater familiarity with rural and regional issues.
Ley subsequently won Liberal preselection for the Federal seat of Farrer and has represented Deniliquin in the Federal Parliament ever since.
I have often wondered that if Ley had won preselection for Indi in 2001, McGowan’s Voices for Indi campaign may not have succeeded and the recent history of independent candidates across the country may have been somewhat different.
Historical column contributor