The Ipswich state by-election, 1949 was a by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

 held on 10 September 1949 for the Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 Legislative Assembly

Queensland Legislative Assembly

The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...

 seat of Ipswich

Electoral district of Ipswich

The district of Ipswich is a Queensland Legislative Assembly electoral district on the Brisbane River, west of Brisbane in the Australian state of Queensland...

, based in the centre of Ipswich

Ipswich, Queensland

Ipswich is a city in South-East Queensland, Australia. Situated along the Bremer River Valley approximately 40 kilometres away from the state's capital Brisbane. The suburb by the same name forms the city's Central Business District and administrative centre...

 to the south-west of Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

. At the time of the election, the seat included the suburbs of Ipswich

Ipswich (suburb), Queensland

Ipswich is the innermost suburb of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. The suburb situated on the Bremer River. It is split between the Ipswich CBD in the north, parkland to the east and a mixture of health, educations and residential areas to the south....

, Booval

Booval, Queensland

Booval is a suburb of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, containing both residential and commercial areas.Booval straddles Brisbane Rd, the main arterial link to the Ipswich Motorway. The Booval Fair shopping centre, located on Brisbane Rd, contains a number of major chain stores, including Woolworths...

, Bundamba

Bundamba, Queensland

Bundamba is a large suburb of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia.Bundamba stretches from the Bremer River to the north, across Brisbane Rd, the main arterial link to the Ipswich Motorway, to the Cunningham Highway in the south...

, Newtown, Silkstone

Silkstone, Queensland

-External links:*...

, West Ipswich

West Ipswich, Queensland

-External links:*...

, Woodend

Woodend, Queensland

Woodend is an inner-city suburb of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. Its northern border is defined by the meandering course of the Bremer River....

 and part of East Ipswich

East Ipswich, Queensland

East Ipswich is a residential inner-city suburb of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. One of the older suburbs, East Ipswich is predominantly made up of weatherboard and fibro houses punctuated with larger heritage houses, and newer townhouses and flats....

.

The by-election was triggered by the death of Labor

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 member and Attorney-General of Queensland

Attorney-General of Queensland

The Attorney-General of Queensland is a ministry of the Government of Queensland with responsibility for the state's legal and justice system.The current Attorney-General of Queensland is Paul Lucas.-List of Attorneys-General of Queensland:-References:...

 David Gledson on 14 May 1949. Gledson had held the seat since the 1915 election

Queensland state election, 1915

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 22 May 1915 to elect the 72 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.The election was the second for the Ministerialist government of Digby Denham, who had been premier since 7 February 1911. The opposition Labor Party, led by T. J...

, with one brief interruption during the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

. It was expected to be retained by the party.

Timeline

Date	Event
14 May 1949	David Gledson died, vacating the seat of Kurilpa Electoral district of Kurilpa Kurilpa was a Legislative Assembly electorate in the state of Queensland from 1912 to 1986. It was named for the Kurilpa Peninsula on the Brisbane River... .
22 August 1949	Writs were issued by the Speaker Speaker of the Queensland Legislative Assembly The Speaker of the Queensland Legislative Assembly is a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, elected by the whole Parliament to preside over sittings of the Assembly and to maintain orderly proceedings. The Speaker is supported in his role by officers of the Parliamentary Service,...  of the Legislative Assembly Queensland Legislative Assembly The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...  to proceed with a by-election.
29 August 1949	Close of nominations and draw of ballot papers.
10 September 1949	Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
14 September 1949	The writ was returned and the results formally declared.

Candidates

The by-election attracted three candidates. The Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 nominated Ivor Marsden, the Liberal Party

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

 nominated Graham Stephenson, while the Communist Party

Communist Party of Australia

The Communist Party of Australia was founded in 1920 and dissolved in 1991; it was succeeded by the Socialist Party of Australia, which then renamed itself, becoming the current Communist Party of Australia. The CPA achieved its greatest political strength in the 1940s and faced an attempted...

 nominated Edmund Crisp. It was the first electoral contest held since the Queensland People's Party

Queensland People's Party

The Queensland People's Party was a conservative political party in Queensland, Australia.Created in 1943 by Brisbane Lord Mayor John Beals Chandler, the Queensland People's Party contested elections in South East Queensland. In 1948, they became the Queensland branch of the Liberal Party of...

 became the Liberal Party's Queensland branch, along with the Kurilpa state by-election

Kurilpa state by-election, 1949

The Kurilpa state by-election, 1949 was a by-election held on 10 September 1949 for the Queensland Legislative Assembly seat of Kurilpa, based in the inner southern Brisbane suburbs of West End and South Brisbane....

 held on the same day.

Results

Ivor Marsden retained the seat for the Labor Party.

Aftermath

Ivor Marsden held the seat and its successor, Ipswich West

Electoral district of Ipswich West

The district of Ipswich West is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.The district takes in western parts of suburban Ipswich, as well as rural areas further west. It was first created for the 1960 election....

, until his retirement from politics at the 1966 election

Queensland state election, 1966

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 28 May 1966 to elect the 78 members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly.The major parties contesting the election were the Country Party led by Premier Frank Nicklin in coalition the Liberal Party, the Australian Labor Party led by...

.