Members of the Australian Senate, 1956–1959

This is a list of members of the Australian Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

from 1956 to 1959. Half of its members were elected at the 9 May 1953 election

Australian Senate election, 1953

Half-senate elections were held in Australia on 9 May 1953.-See also:*Candidates of the Australian Senate election, 1953*Members of the Australian Senate, 1953–1956-References:* election results in Australia since 1890...

and had terms starting on 1 July 1953 and finishing on 30 June 1959; the other half were elected at the 10 December 1955 election

Australian federal election, 1955

Federal elections were held in Australia on 10 December 1955. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives, and 30 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies with coalition partner the Country Party...

and had terms starting on 1 July 1956 and finishing on 30 June 1962.

Senator	Party	State	Years in Office
Stan Amour	ALP 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...	New South Wales New South Wales New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...	1938–1965
Ken Anderson	Liberal 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...	New South Wales	1953–1975
Hon John Armstrong John Armstrong (Australian politician) John Ignatius Armstrong, AC was an Australian politician and federal minister.Armstrong was born in the Sydney suburb of Ultimo and ducated at St Bede's School, Pyrmont, and Marist Brothers' High School, Darlinghurst...	ALP	New South Wales	1938–1962
Hon Bill Ashley	ALP	New South Wales	1938–1958
James Arnold James Arnold (Australian politician) James Jarvist Arnold was an Australian politician. Born in Wallaroo, South Australia, he was educated at Christian Brothers College in Adelaide before becoming a railway worker and firefighter. Moving to Newcastle, New South Wales, he qualified as an accountant. In 1940, he was elected to the...	ALP	New South Wales	1941–1965
Archie Benn	ALP	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...	1950–1968
Bill Aylett	ALP	Tasmania Tasmania Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...	1938–1965
George Branson George Branson George Howard Branson was an Australian politician. Born in Perth, Western Australia, he was educated at state schools before becoming a sales manager. He served in the military 1940-1946, returning to become a farmer. In 1958, he was elected to the Australian Senate as a Liberal Senator for...	Liberal	Western Australia Western Australia Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...	1958–1971
Hon Gordon Brown Gordon Brown (Australian politician) Gordon Brown was a long-serving Australian politician.Born in Derbyshire, England, he was educated at Clay Cross Grammar School before becoming a printer and engineer. He migrated to Australia in 1912, where he became an organiser of the Shop Assistants' Union and of the Socialist Party...	ALP	Queensland	1932–1965
Nancy Buttfield Nancy Buttfield Dame Nancy Buttfield DBE was an Australian Senator and the first woman to serve in the Australian Parliament as a representative of the state of South Australia....	Liberal	South Australia South Australia South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...	1955–1965, 1968–1974
Condon Byrne Condon Byrne Condon Bryan Byrne , Australian politician, was a Senator with the Australian Labor Party and later the Democratic Labor Party...	ALP/QLP Queensland Labor Party The Queensland Labor Party was a political party of Queensland, Australia formed in 1957 by a breakaway group of the then ruling Australian Labor Party Government after the expulsion of Premier Vince Gair...	Queensland	1951–1959, 1968–1974
Hon Don Cameron	ALP	Victoria Victoria (Australia) Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....	1938–1962
George Cole George Cole (Australian politician) George Ronald Cole was an Australian politician. Born in Don, Tasmania, he was raised in the Methodist faith of his mother, educated at state schools and then the University of Tasmania, before becoming a teacher and headmaster in state schools.As an Australian rules footballer with New Town, Cole...	ALP (A–C) Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist) The Australian Labor Party was the name initially used by the right-wing group which split away from the Australian Labor Party in 1955, and which later became the Democratic Labor Party in 1957.... /DLP Democratic Labor Party The Democratic Labor Party is a political party in Australia that espouses social conservatism and opposes neo-liberalism. The first "DLP" Senator in decades, party vice-president John Madigan was elected to the Australian Senate with 2.3 percent of the primary vote in Victoria at the 2010 federal...	Tasmania	1950–1965
Joe Cooke	ALP	Western Australia Western Australia Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...	1947–1951, 1952–1965
Hon Walter Cooper	Country National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	Queensland	1928–1932, 1935–1968
Hon Ben Courtice	ALP	Queensland	1937–1962
Jack Critchley	ALP	South Australia	1947–1959
Jack Devlin	ALP	Victoria	1946–1957
Tom Drake-Brockman	Country	Western Australia	1958, 1959–1978
Hon James Fraser James Fraser (Western Australian politician) James McIntosh Fraser was an Australian trade unionist and politician.Fraser was born in Forres, Morayshire, Scotland and educated locally. He emigrated to Australia and married Ellen Simmons in April 1912 in Perth...	ALP	Western Australia	1938–1959
Hon John Gorton John Gorton Sir John Grey Gorton, GCMG, AC, CH , Australian politician, was the 19th Prime Minister of Australia.-Early life:...	Liberal	Victoria	1950–1968
Donald Grant Donald Grant Donald Grant was a leader of the Industrial Workers of the World in Sydney, Australia, a member of the Sydney Twelve charged with conspiracy in 1916, and later a member of the Australian Labor Party who was elected to Sydney City Council, appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council, and...	ALP	New South Wales	1944–1959
Clive Hannaford	Liberal	South Australia	1950–1967
George Hannan George Hannan George Conrad Hannan was an Australian politician.Born in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, he was educated at Catholic schools and then the University of Melbourne. He became a barrister in 1934, and served in the military from 1942 to 1946...	Liberal	Victoria	1956–1965, 1970–1974
John Harris John Harris (Australian politician) John Harris was an Australian politician. Born in Sydney, he moved to Western Australia in 1898 and was educated at state schools in Perth. He became a blacksmith, and served in the military 1916-1919. He was Western Australian Secretary of the Australian Society of Engineers...	ALP	Western Australia	1947–1951, 1953–1959
Bert Hendrickson	ALP	Victoria	1947–1971, 1970–1974
Hon Denham Henty Denham Henty Sir Denham Henty, KBE was an Australian politician.Henty was born in Longford, Tasmania and educated at Launceston Church Grammar School. He left school at 14 to work in his fathers wholesale business. In March 1930 he married Faith Gordon Spotswood and they subsequently had three sons and a...	Liberal	Tasmania	1950–1968
Roy Kendall Roy Kendall Roy Kendall was an English-born Australian politician and intelligence agent . Born in London, he was educated at Bristol Cathedral School before becoming a merchant seaman. After serving in the military 1914–18, he was recruited by Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, in December 1941...	Liberal	Queensland	1950–1965
Pat Kennelly	ALP	Victoria	1953–1971
Keith Laught Keith Laught Keith Alexander Laught was an Australian politician. Born in Adelaide, South Australia, he was educated at Scotch College and then the University of Adelaide, becoming a barrister in 1929. He served in the military 1940-1944. In 1951, he was elected to the Australian Senate as a Liberal Senator...	Liberal	South Australia	1951–1969
Ted Maher	Country	Queensland	1950–1965
John Marriott John Marriott (Australian politician) John Edward Marriott was an Australian politician. Born in Elliot, Tasmania, he was educated in Hobart at Hutchins School before serving in the military 1940-1945. He was a staff member with the Tasmanian Liberal Party from 1945 to 1949, and was Secretary to the Tasmanian Opposition Leader 1949-1953...	Liberal	Tasmania	1953–1975
Hon Ted Mattner	Liberal	South Australia	1944–1946, 1950–1968
John McCallum John McCallum (Australian politician) John Archibald McCallum was an Australian politician. Born in Mittagong, New South Wales, he was educated at Sydney High School, Sydney Teachers College and the University of Sydney before becoming a teacher. He served in the military 1916-1918 and returned to become a history lecturer and...	Liberal	New South Wales	1950–1962
Colin McKellar	Country	New South Wales	1958–1970
Hon Nick McKenna	ALP	Tasmania	1944–1968
Frank McManus Frank McManus (Australian politician) Francis Patrick Vincent McManus , Australian politician, was the last leader of the parliamentary Democratic Labor Party and a prominent figure in Australian politics for 30 years....	ALP (A–C)/DLP	Victoria	1956–1962, 1965–1974
Hon Alister McMullin Alister McMullin Sir Alister Maxwell McMullin was an Australian politician. Born in Scone, New South Wales, he was educated at state schools before becoming a farmer and grazier. He served in the Royal Australian Air Force in 1940-1945, and when he returned served on Upper Hunter Shire Council...	Liberal	New South Wales	1951–1971
Theo Nicholls	ALP	South Australia	1944–1968
Justin O'Byrne Justin O'Byrne Justin Hilary O'Byrne, AO was a long-serving Australian Labor Party politician who represented Tasmania in the Federal Senate from 1947 to 1981, acting as President of the Senate from 1974 to 1975.-Biography:...	ALP	Tasmania	1947–1981
Sid O'Flaherty	ALP	South Australia	1944–1962
James Ormonde James Ormonde (Australian politician) James Patrick Ormonde was a Scottish-born Australian politician. Born in Fife, he migrated to Australia as a child and was educated at Catholic schools in Maitland, New South Wales. He became a journalist first with the Labor Daily and then with the Sydney Morning Herald...	ALP	New South Wales	1958, 1959–1970
Hon Neil O'Sullivan Neil O'Sullivan Sir Michael Neil O'Sullivan KBE was an Australian politician and lawyer.O'Sullivan was born in the Brisbane suburb of Toowong and educated at Taringa State School and St. Joseph's Nudgee College and was admitted as a solicitor in December 1922. In April 1929, he married Jessie Margaret Mary...	Liberal	Queensland	1947–1962
Hon Shane Paltridge	Liberal	Western Australia	1951–1966
Rex Pearson Rex Pearson Rex Whiting Pearson was an Australian politician. Born in Kadina, South Australia, he was educated in Adelaide at Prince Alfred College before becoming a farmer and grazier at Sandilands, South Australia....	Liberal	South Australia	1951–1961
Bob Poke	ALP	Tasmania	1956–1974
Dame Annabelle Rankin Annabelle Rankin Dame Annabelle Jane Mary Rankin DBE was the second woman member of the Australian Senate, the first woman from Queensland to sit in the Parliament of Australia, the first woman to have a federal portfolio and the first woman to be appointed head of a foreign mission.-Biography:Rankin was born in...	Liberal	Queensland	1947–1971
Albert Reid Albert Reid Albert David Reid was an Australian politician. Born in Murrumburrah, New South Wales, he was educated at state schools before becoming a farmer and grazier at Crowther. He sat on Murrumburrah Shire Council before serving in the military in 1914.In 1927, he was elected to the New South Wales...	Country	New South Wales	1950–1962
Agnes Robertson Agnes Robertson Agnes Robertson Robertson was an Australian Senator for Western Australia.She was elected to the senate in 1950 as a Liberal Party representative; in 1955 she switched her allegiance and represented the Country Party for the remainder of her parliamentary service; for this reason she is regarded...	Liberal	Western Australia	1950–1962
John Ryan John Ryan (Australian politician) John Victor Ryan was an Australian politician. Born in Adelaide, South Australia, he was educated at state schools before becoming a baker. He was secretary of the Baking Trades Employees' Union before becoming South Australian Labor Party Campaign Director 1928-1950...	ALP	South Australia	1950–1959
Charles Sandford Charles Sandford Charles Walter Sandford was an Australian politician.Born in the state of Victoria, he received a primary education before becoming a railway worker. He served in the military from 1914 to 1918, and returned as an official with the Australian Railways Union...	ALP	Victoria	1947–1956, 1957–1966
Malcolm Scott Malcolm Scott Malcolm Fox Scott , was an Australian politician and government minister.Scott was born in Western Australia and was a farmer and had extensive mining interests before entering parliament....	Liberal	Western Australia	1950–1971
Harrie Seward Harrie Seward Harrie Stephen Seward was an Australian politician. Born at Rochester, Victoria, he was educated in Ballarat at St Patrick's College. He became a bank officer, and moved to Western Australia, becoming a farmer at Pingelly from 1913. He served in the military 1915-1919...	Country	Western Australia	1951–1958
Jim Sheehan	ALP	Victoria	1938–1940, 1944–1962
Hon John Spicer John Spicer (Australian politician) Sir John Armstrong Spicer was an Australian lawyer, politician, cabinet minister and judge.Spicer was born in the Melbourne suburb of Prahran, but was taken to England by his family in 1905 and educated at Chelston School, Torquay. His family returned to Australia in 1911 and he attended Hawksburn...	Liberal	Victoria	1940–1944, 1950–1956
Hon Bill Spooner	Liberal	New South Wales	1950–1965
Dame Dorothy Tangney Dorothy Tangney Dame Dorothy Margaret Tangney DBE was an Australian politician and the first woman member of the Australian Senate.Dorothy Tangney started her career as a school teacher in Western Australia...	ALP	Western Australia	1943–1968
Jim Toohey	ALP	South Australia	1953–1971
Seddon Vincent	Liberal	Western Australia	1950–1964
Harrie Wade Harrie Wade Harrie Walter Wade OBE was an Australian federal politician and minister.Wade was born in Clear Lake, Victoria and educated at Horsham State School and Horsham High School. He worked as a schoolteacher and clerk and then as an accountant at Goroke...	Country	Victoria	1956–1964
Robert Wardlaw Robert Wardlaw Robert Wardlaw was an Australian politician. Born in Mathinna, Tasmania, he was educated at state schools before serving in the military 1914-1920. He returned to become a shopkeeper at Ringarooma and later a farmer and pig breeder. He was President of the Tasmanian Farmers' Federation 1949-1951...	Liberal	Tasmania	1953–1962
Dame Ivy Wedgwood Ivy Wedgwood Dame Ivy Evelyn Wedgwood, DBE was an Australian Senator for Victoria.Wedgwood was the first female Senator to represent Victoria. During her 21 year term, which ran from 1950 to 1971, she became the first woman to chair a Senate Committee in 1968....	Liberal	Victoria	1950–1971
Don Willesee Don Willesee Donald Robert "Don" Willesee was an Australian politician, a member of the Australian Senate for 25 years representing Western Australia, and a Cabinet minister in the Whitlam government....	ALP	Western Australia	1950–1975
Ian Wood Ian Wood (Australian politician) Ian Alexander Christie Wood was an Australian politician. Born at Mackay, Queensland, he was educated at state schools before becoming a travel agent. He served on Mackay City Council, including some years as mayor, 1930-1933, 1943-1953. He was also President of the Queensland Local Government...	Liberal	Queensland	1950–1978
Robert Wordsworth Robert Wordsworth Robert Hurley Wordsworth was an Australian politician. Born in Collarenebri, New South Wales, he was educated at North Sydney Grammar School before serving in the military from 1914 to 1947, retiring as a Major-General. He became a farmer at Westbury in Tasmania. In 1949, he was elected to the...	Liberal	Tasmania	1950–1959
Reg Wright	Liberal	Tasmania	1950–1978