COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA FIFTEENTH PARLIAMENT ==================================================================== BY-ELECTIONS ==================================================================== GRIFFITH, Qld ==================================================================== Suburban Brisbane: Bulimba, Coorparoo, Kurilpa, Maree -------------------------------------------------------------------- 20 May 1939, following the death of Francis Baker -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1937 two-party majority: ALP over UAP 00.3 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Enrolled voters: 61,804 +01.3 Votes cast: 56,597 91.6 -05.8 Informal votes: 1,025 01.8 -01.0 Formal votes: 55,572 98.2 +01.0 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Candidate Party Votes % Swing -------------------------------------------------------------------- William Conelan + ALP 22,967 41.3 -07.0 Everett Graham 15,437 27.8 Peter McCowan UAP 17,168 30.9 -10.3 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 55,572 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Graham was a Protestant Labor candidate. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd count: Graham's 15,437 votes distributed -------------------------------------------------------------------- CONELAN + 4,823 31.2 27,790 50.0 McCowan 10,614 68.8 27,782 50.0 -------------------------------------------------------------------- > 15,437 55,572 00.0 00.3 to UAP -------------------------------------------------------------------- Conelan polled 50.007% of the two-party vote. This was the closest result in a House of Representatives election ever allowed to stand. (Two closer results were declared void.) In terms of votes, his eight-vote victory was the second-closest, after John Lynch's seven- vote win in Werriwa in 1914. -------------------------------------------------------------------- William Patrick Conelan (1893-1983): Elected 1939 By Born: 23 December 1893, Wadnaminga, South Australia. Career: Primary education. Tailor's cutter and draper. Brisbane City Council. --------------------------------------------------------------------