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Our Centenary of Women’s Suffrage

Overview

What happened on the way

’The prized means to an end long desired’: 1 Exercising the franchise at the 1903 federal election

The first parliamentary election following the federation of Australia was held on 29 March 1901 in New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia, and 30 March 1901 in Queensland and South Australia. The election was conducted according to then-existing state electoral laws - as laid down in the Federal Constitution - until the newly constituted Federal ‘Parliament otherwise provides’.

The states were very diverse in their approach to voting eligibility requirements. Such things as residential and property qualifications for enrolment, whether adult women could vote, Aboriginal and non-white voting rights, and whether members of the police forces could vote varied markedly between jurisdictions 2. Even voting methods differed; however, one uniform provision was in force at the first Federal election – the Constitution explicitly provided that in the choosing of members each elector should vote only once 3.

Following the 1901 election, there was a formal review of the various State electoral laws, and in 1902 the federal Parliament passed the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1902. This contained the detailed instructions for the uniform holding of Commonwealth elections, including the appointment of the Chief Electoral Officer for the Commonwealth, the creation of electoral divisions, the preparation of electoral rolls, nominations procedures and postal voting.

Section 95 of the Act, relating to nominations, opened the way for women to stand for election. To nominate, a person had to be qualified under the Constitution to be elected. Under the Constitution (‘until the Parliament otherwise provides’) the qualifications included: being of the full age of 21 years and being an elector entitled to vote at the election of the House of Representatives. And on 12 June 1902 the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 had provided that ‘subject to the disqualifications hereafter set out, all persons... whether male or female married or unmarried... shall be entitled to vote at the election of Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives’.

  1. Melbourne Leader, 28 November 1903, cited in F Kelly, 1985, ‘Vida Goldstein: political woman’, in M Lake and F Kelly (eds) Double Time: Women in Victoria-150 Years, Penguin Books, Ringwood, p. 167.
  2. Simms, M 2001, ‘Voting and enrolment provisions’, in M Simms (ed), 1901: The forgotten election, UQP in association with the API Network and Curtin UT, St Lucia, pp. 28-31.
  3. Rydon, J 2001, ‘Electoral Methods’, in M Simms (ed), 1901: The forgotten election, p. 21.

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