A general election was held in the Northern Territory

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...

 on Saturday 13 August 1977. Though the election was won by the incumbent Country Liberal Party

Country Liberal Party

The Northern Territory Country Liberal Party is a Northern Territory political party affiliated with both the National and Liberal parties...

 (CLP), the party lost five of its seven executive members, including Majority Leader Goff Letts

Goff Letts

Dr Godfrey Alan Letts CBE was the Majority Leader of the Northern Territory of Australia from 1974 to 1977.Born in Donald, Victoria, Letts attended Melbourne Grammar and Melbourne and Sydney Universities, graduating with a Bachelor of Veterinarian Science in 1950...

. The election also marked the emergence of the Australian 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...

 as a parliamentary force: Labor took six seats in the new assembly.

The Progress Party contested the elections, winning 9.76% of the primary vote across the territory, but failed to secure any assembly seats.

The Country Liberals chose Paul Everingham

Paul Everingham

Paul Anthony Edward Everingham AO was the first Chief Minister of the Northern Territory of Australia when it was granted self-government in 1978....

 to replace Letts as Majority Leader. Everingham appointed a new Executive, which included future Chief Ministers Marshall Perron

Marshall Perron

Marshall Bruce Perron is a former Australian politician, who was a Country Liberal Party member of the Legislative Assembly in the Northern Territory from the formation of the Assembly in 1974 until his resignation in 1995. From 1988 to 1995, Perron was the Chief Minister of the Northern...

 and Ian Tuxworth

Ian Tuxworth

Ian Lindsay Tuxworth is an Australian politician, who was Chief Minister of the Northern Territory of Australia from 17 October 1984 until he resigned on 10 May 1986....

. The following, year, the Territory attained self-government. Everingham became Chief Minister, his Executive became a Ministry with greatly expanded powers.

Independent Dawn Lawrie

Dawn Lawrie

Alline Dawn Lawrie is a former Australian politician. She was the Independent member for Nightcliff in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1974 to 1983; in the First Assembly, she and fellow independent Ron Withnall were the sole non-Country Liberal Party members...

 retained her seat of Nightcliff

Electoral division of Nightcliff

Nightcliff is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1974, and takes its name from the suburb of the same name. Nightcliff is one of the smallest electorates in the Territory, covering only 3.37 km² and taking in the suburb...

 at this election, while Ron Withnall

Ron Withnall

Ronald John Withnall was an Australian politician and lawyer.Withnall was born in Townsville, Queensland, but attended school at Canterbury High School in Sydney. He studied law at the University of Sydney and later moved to the Northern Territory...

 lost his seat of Port Darwin

Electoral division of Port Darwin

Port Darwin is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1974, and is an entirely urban electorate, covering only 13.65 km² and taking in the Darwin central business district, as well as the suburb of Larrakeyah and part of Stuart...

 to the CLP.

See also

• Everingham Executive
  Everingham Executive
  The Everingham Executive was the fifth ministry to come from the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. It was also the last to have been officially referred to as an executive rather than a ministry, and the last to have the rather limited powers that came with holding office in the Northern...
  
  
• First Everingham Ministry
  First Everingham Ministry
  The First Everingham Ministry was the fifth ministry to come from the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly and the first to have the full legislative power that was granted when self-government was received in 1978...
  
  
• Second Everingham Ministry
  Second Everingham Ministry
  The Second Everingham Ministry was the sixth ministry to come from the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. It came into existence on 2 January 1979, when Chief Minister Paul Everingham promoted Nick Dondas into the ministry and created several new portfolios accordingly, and lasted until 8...
  
  
• Third Everingham Ministry
  Third Everingham Ministry
  The Third Everingham Ministry was the seventh ministry to come from the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. It came into existence on 9 March 1979, when Chief Minister Paul Everingham appointed his newest minister, Nick Dondas to the additional position of acting Minister for Community...
  
  
• Fourth Everingham Ministry
  Fourth Everingham Ministry
  The Fourth Everingham Ministry was the eighth ministry to come from the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. It came into existence on 2 July 1979, and was, for the most part, unchanged from the previous ministry...