View source for Nationalist Party (Australia)

{{short description|Former Australian political party}}
{{distinguish|National Party of Australia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Use Australian English|date=October 2011}}
{{more footnotes|date=April 2017}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = Nationalist Party
| colorcode        = #6495ED
| leader           = {{plainlist|
* '''[[#Leaders|Full list:]]'''
* {{nowrap|[[Billy Hughes]] (1917–1923)}}
* {{nowrap|[[Stanley Bruce]] (1923–1929)}}
* {{nowrap|[[John Latham (judge)|John Latham]] (1929–1931)}}
}}
| founder          = [[Billy Hughes]]{{efn|Hughes was largely claimed to be the founder of the Nationalist Party.{{sfnm|1a1=Duncan Hughes|1y=1931|1p=2|2a1=Current History|2y=1929|2p=381}}}}
| founded          = [[Third Hughes Ministry|15–22 February 1917]]{{sfn|Hansard|1917}}
| merger           = {{hlist|[[National Labor Party|National Labor]]|[[Liberal Party (Australia, 1909)|Liberal]]}}
| merged           = [[United Australia Party|United Australia]] (1931)
| youth_wing       = {{plainlist|
*{{nowrap|{{*}} [[#Young Nationalists Organisation|Young National League]]}}
*{{nowrap|{{*}} [[#Young Nationalists Organisation|Young Nationalists Organisation]]}}
}}
| womens_wing      = [[Australian Women's National League|Women's National League]]{{sfn|Williams|1969|pp=49–51}}
| wing1_title      = [[Veterans' organization|Veterans' wing]]
| wing1            = [[Returned and Services League of Australia|RSSILA]]{{sfn|Williams|1971|pp=7–19}}
| ideology         = {{plainlist|
* {{nowrap|[[Conservatism in Australia|Conservatism]]{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=1971|1pp=7–19|2a1=Cunningham|2y=2022|2p=88}}}}
* [[Monarchy of Australia|Monarchism]]
* [[Protectionism]]{{sfnm|1a1=Eggleston|1y=1931|1p=249|2a1=Cunningham|2y=2022|2p=32}}
* [[Australian nationalism]]{{sfnm|1a1=Duncan Hughes|1y=1931|1p=64–76|2a1=Moadoph|2y=1919|2p=}}
}}
| national         = {{nowrap|[[Coalition (Australia)#Chronology|Nationalist–Country Coalition]]}}<br/>{{small|(1922–1931)}}
| position         = {{nowrap|[[Centre-right politics|Centre-right]]{{sfn|Cunningham|2022|pp=32, 88}} to [[Right-wing politics|right-wing]]{{sfn|Kirk|2006|pp=95–111}}}}
| colours          = {{color box|#6495ED|border=darkgray}} [[Political colour#Blue|Blue]]
| seats1_title     = [[House of Representatives (Australia)|House of Representatives]]
| seats1           = {{composition bar|53|75|hex=#6495ED}}{{small|([[Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1917–1919|1917–1919]])}}
| seats2_title     = [[Australian Senate|Senate]]
| seats2           = {{composition bar|34|36|hex=#6495ED}}{{small|([[Members of the Australian Senate, 1920–1923|1920–1923]])}}
| country          = Australia
}}
[[File:Portrait of W. M. Hughes.jpg|right|215px|thumb|[[Billy Hughes]], founder and Nationalist [[Prime Minister of Australia|Prime Minister]], 1917–23.]]
The '''Nationalist Party''', also known as the '''National Party''', was an [[Australian political party]]. It was formed in February 1917 from a merger between the [[Commonwealth Liberal Party|Liberal Party]] and the [[National Labor Party]], the latter formed by [[Prime Minister of Australia|Prime Minister]] [[Billy Hughes]] and his supporters after the [[Australian Labor Party split of 1916|1916 Labor Party split]] over [[World War I conscription in Australia|World War I conscription]]. The Nationalist Party was established as a 'united' non-Labor opposition that had remained a political trend once the Labor party established itself in federal politics. The party  was in government (from 1923 in coalition with the [[National Party of Australia|Country Party]]) until electoral defeat in 1929. From that time it was the main opposition to the Labor Party until it merged with pro-[[Joseph Lyons]] Labor defectors to form the [[United Australia Party]] (UAP) in 1931. The party is a direct ancestor of the [[Liberal Party of Australia]], the main centre-right party in [[Australia]].

==History==
In October 1915, the Australian prime minister, [[Andrew Fisher]] of the [[Australian Labor Party]], retired; [[Billy Hughes]] was chosen unanimously by the Labor [[caucus]] to succeed him. Hughes was a strong supporter of Australia's participation in [[World War I]], and after a visit to Britain in 1916, where the [[Military Service Act 1916]] had been passed earlier in the year, he became convinced that [[Conscription in Australia|conscription]] was necessary if Australia was to sustain its contribution to the war effort. A majority of his party, most notably [[Roman Catholic Church in Australia|Roman Catholics]] and [[Australian labour movement|trade union]] representatives, was opposed to this, especially given the British government's reprisals against the Irish [[Easter Rising]] of 1916.

In October, Hughes held a [[Australian plebiscite, 1916|plebiscite]] to try to gain approval for conscription, but the proposition was narrowly defeated. [[Daniel Mannix]], the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne|Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne]], was his main opponent on the conscription issue. The defeat did not deter Hughes, who continued to vigorously argue in favour of conscription. This produced a deep and bitter split within the Australian public, as well as within his own party. The extent to which he engineered this split has been hotly debated ever since, and was even at the time regarded as ironic by many in the Labor movement, given Hughes' violent hostility to earlier Labor dissidents like [[Joseph Cook]].

On 15 September 1916, the [[New South Wales]] executive of the Political Labour League (the Labor Party organisation at the time) expelled Hughes from the Labor Party. When the parliamentary Labor caucus met on 14 November 1916, lengthy discussions took place until Hughes walked out with 24 other Labor members. The remaining 43 members of the caucus then passed a motion of no confidence in the leadership, effectively expelling Hughes and his allies.

Hughes and his followers rebranded themselves as the "[[National Labor Party]]", and continued in office as a minority government with support from Cook and his [[Commonwealth Liberal Party]]. With the war dragging on, Hughes began negotiations with Cook to turn their [[Confidence and supply|confidence-and-supply]] agreement into formal party unity. That February, at the urging of the governor-general, [[Ronald Munro-Ferguson, 1st Viscount Novar|Sir Robert Munro Ferguson]], the two groups formally merged to form the Nationalist Party, with Hughes as leader and Cook as deputy leader. The new party was dominated by former Liberals, and as such was basically an upper- and middle-class party. However, the presence of many former Labor men—many of whom had been early leaders in that party—allowed the Nationalists to project an image of national unity.

In May 1917, the Nationalists [[1917 Australian federal election|won a huge electoral victory]], and formed what was at the time the biggest majority government since [[Federation of Australia|Federation]]. The size of the landslide was magnified by the large number of Labor MPs who followed Hughes into the Nationalist Party. At this election Hughes abandoned his working-class division of [[Division of West Sydney|West Sydney]], and was elected for [[Division of Bendigo|Bendigo]] in Victoria. He had promised to resign if his Government did not win the power to conscript. A [[Australian plebiscite, 1917|second plebiscite on conscription]] was held in December 1917, but the proposition was again defeated, this time by a wider margin. Hughes, after receiving a [[vote of no confidence]] in his leadership by his party, resigned as prime minister. However, with no alternative candidates available, Ferguson used his [[reserve power]] to immediately re-commission Hughes as prime minister. Hughes was thus able to remain in office while having kept his promise to resign.

Hughes and the Nationalists were reelected almost as easily in [[1919 Australian federal election|1919]]. They governed on their own until the [[1922 Australian federal election|elections of 1922]], when the newly emerged [[National Party of Australia|Country Party]] gained the [[Balance of power (parliament)|balance of power]] in the [[Australian House of Representatives|House of Representatives]]. The Nationalists had come up 12 seats short of a majority, and could only realistically hope for support from the Country Party. It was obvious that a confidence-and-supply agreement would not be enough to keep the Nationalists in office. However, the Country Party had never liked Hughes' rural policy, and its leader [[Earle Page]] let it be known that he would not serve under him. Several of the more conservative elements of the Nationalist Party had only tolerated Hughes after the war, suspecting he was still a socialist at heart. Page's demand finally gave them an excuse to dump Hughes, who was forced to resign in January 1923. Former [[Treasurer of Australia|treasurer]] [[Stanley Bruce]] was chosen as leader, and quickly entered into a coalition with the Country Party. The price, however, was high: five seats for the Country Party in cabinet (out of 11), with Page as treasurer and number-two man in the government. Such demands were unheard of for such a young party in a Westminster system. However, Bruce agreed to the terms rather than force another election. This was the start of the traditional [[Coalition (Australia)|coalition of non-Labor parties]].

With the ouster of Hughes, the Nationalists took on a decidedly more conservative hue. Despite initial concerns that Australians wouldn't readily support the aloof Bruce, the Nationalist-Country Coalition won a great victory in [[1925 Australian federal election|the federal election of 1925]]. It was re-elected in [[1928 Australian federal election|1928]], though with a significantly reduced mandate. However, only a year later, Hughes led a group of backbenchers to [[cross the floor]] on a vote on Bruce's plans to reform the industrial arbitration system. In [[1929 Australian federal election|the subsequent election]] the Coalition was heavily defeated, suffering what was at the time the second-worst defeat of a sitting government since federation. Bruce even lost his own seat, and was succeeded as leader by former attorney-general [[John Latham (judge)|John Latham]].

The Nationalists were never a real force in Australian politics again. The party had spent its entire 12-year existence in government, and was ill-prepared for a role in opposition. In 1931, following negotiations with a group of Labor Party defectors led by [[Joseph Lyons]], the Nationalist Party was absorbed into the new [[United Australia Party]]. Although the UAP was dominated by former Nationalists, Lyons was chosen as leader rather than Latham. The UAP replaced the Nationalists as the main non-Labor party.

The [[Western Australia]]n branch retained the Nationalist name after the formation of the UAP, and did so until it and most of the major non-Labor parties were folded into the present-day [[Liberal Party of Australia]].

==Young Nationalists Organisation==
Around 1929, [[Robert Menzies]], then a member of the [[Victorian Legislative Council]], joined with [[Wilfrid Kent Hughes]] to form the Young Nationalists Organisation. Menzies was its first president.

The organisation kept its name when its parent party became part of the UAP. Half of the UAP members elected in the [[1932 Victorian state election]] were Young Nationalists, almost trebling their parliamentary representation. The premier, Sir [[Stanley Argyle]], included three of them in his eight-person cabinet, including Menzies as deputy premier.

Later, when Menzies founded the [[Liberal Party of Australia]], he invited delegates from the Young Nationalists to attend. The Young Nationalists followed the UAP into the Liberal Party, and formed the nucleus of the new party's youth wing, the [[Young Liberals (Australia)|Young Liberals]].

==Electoral performance==
{| class=wikitable style="text-align: right;"
|-
! Election
! Leader
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/–
! Position
! Government
|-
! [[1917 Australian federal election|1917]]
| [[Billy Hughes]]
| 1,021,138
| 54.2
| {{Composition bar|53|75|hex={{party color|Nationalist Party of Australia}}}}
| {{increase}} 53
| {{increase}} 1st
| {{yes2|Majority}}
|-
! [[1919 Australian federal election|1919]]
| [[Billy Hughes]]
| 860,519
| 45.0
| {{Composition bar|37|75|hex={{party color|Nationalist Party of Australia}}}}
| {{decrease}} 16
| {{increase}} 1st
| {{yes2|Minority}}
|-
! [[1922 Australian federal election|1922]]
| [[Billy Hughes]]
| 553,920
| 35.2
| {{Composition bar|26|75|hex={{party color|Nationalist Party of Australia}}}}
| {{decrease}} 11
| {{decrease}} 2nd
| {{yes2|Coalition}}
|-
! [[1925 Australian federal election|1925]]
| [[Stanley Bruce]]
| 1,238,397
| 42.4
| {{Composition bar|37|75|hex={{party color|Nationalist Party of Australia}}}}
| {{increase}} 11
| {{increase}} 1st
| {{yes2|Coalition}}
|-
! [[1928 Australian federal election|1928]]
| [[Stanley Bruce]]
| 1,014,522
| 39.0
| {{Composition bar|29|75|hex={{party color|Nationalist Party of Australia}}}}
| {{decrease}} 8
| {{decrease}} 2nd
| {{yes2|Coalition}}
|-
! [[1929 Australian federal election|1929]]
| [[Stanley Bruce]]
| 975,979
| 33.9
| {{Composition bar|14|75|hex={{party color|Nationalist Party of Australia}}}}
| {{decrease}} 15
| {{decrease}} 2nd
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|}

==Leaders==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! No.
! Leader<br /><small>(birth–death)</small>
! Portrait
! Electorate
! Took office
! |Left office
! Duration of tenure
! colspan="2"|Prime Minister {{small|(term)}}
|-
! 1
| [[Billy Hughes]]<br /><small>(1862–1952)</small>
| [[File:Billy Hughes 1916.jpg|85px]]
| [[Division of West Sydney|West Sydney]], NSW{{efn|From 1901 to the [[1917 Australian federal election|federal election, May 1917]].}}<br />[[Division of Bendigo|Bendigo]], Vic.{{efn|Between 1917–[[1922 Australian federal election|1922]].}}<br />[[Division of North Sydney|North Sydney]], NSW{{efn|From 1922 onward.}}
| 17 February 1917
| 2 February 1923
! style="font-size:90%; font-weight:normal"| {{age in years and days|17 February 1917|2 February 1923|sep=and|duration=on}}
| style="background-color: {{party color|Nationalist Party (Australia)}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"|
! style="font-weight:normal"|'''''Himself''''' <br /><small>{{nowrap|(1915–1923)}}</small>
|-
! rowspan="2"|2
| rowspan="2"|[[Stanley Bruce]]<br /><small>(1883–1967)</small>
| rowspan="2"|[[File:Stanley Bruce 1927 (cropped).jpg|85px]]
| rowspan="2"|[[Division of Flinders|Flinders]], Vic.
| rowspan="2"|3 February 1923
| rowspan="2"|23 October 1929
! rowspan="2" style="font-size:90%; font-weight:normal"| {{age in years and days|2 February 1923|23 October 1929|sep=and|duration=on}}
| height=98 style="background-color: {{party color|Nationalist Party (Australia)}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"|
! style="font-weight:normal"|'''''Himself''''' <br /><small>{{nowrap|(1923–1929)}}</small>
|-
| style="background-color: {{party color|Australian Labor Party}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"|
! style="font-weight:normal" rowspan="2"|'''[[Scullin Ministry|Scullin]]''' <br /><small>{{nowrap|(1929–1932)}}</small>
|-
! 3
| [[John Latham (judge)|John Latham]]<br /><small>(1877–1964)</small>
| [[File:John Latham 1931-01.jpg|85px]]
| [[Division of Kooyong|Kooyong]], Vic.
| 20 November 1929
| May 1931
! style="font-size:90%; font-weight:normal"| {{age in years and days|23 October 1929|1 May 1931|sep=and|duration=on}}
| style="background-color: {{party color|Australian Labor Party}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"|
|}

==See also==
* [[Australian nationalism]]
* [[List of political parties in Australia]]

==Citations==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Footnotes==
'''Notes'''
{{notelist}}
'''Sources'''
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite book |last=Cunningham |first=Matthew |date=2022 |title=Mobilising the Masses: Populist Conservative Movements in Australia and New Zealand During the Great Depression |url=https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/mobilising-masses |publisher=[[ANU Press]] |isbn=9781760465117 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=John R. |date=March 1971 |title=Financing Conservative Parties in Australia |jstor=20634415 |journal=[[Australian Quarterly]] |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=7–19|doi=10.2307/20634415 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=John R. |date=June 1969 |title=The Organization of the Australian National Party |jstor=20634278 |journal=Australian Quarterly |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=41–51|doi=10.2307/20634278 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Duncan Hughes |first1=J. G. |date=June 1931 |title=The Prospects of Nationalism in Australia |jstor=20628927 |journal=Australian Quarterly |volume=3 |issue=10 |pages=64–76|doi=10.2307/20628927 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Eggleston |first1=F. W. |date=November 1931 |title=Political Parties and Their Economic Policies |jstor=1018756 |journal=[[The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science]] |volume=158 |pages=243–250|doi=10.1177/000271623115800130 |s2cid=144340284 }}
* {{cite web |url=https://electionspeeches.moadoph.gov.au/speeches/1919-billy-hughes |title=Election Speeches – 1919: Billy Hughes |last= |first= |date=1919 |website=electionspeeches.moadoph.gov.au |publisher=[[Old Parliament House, Canberra|Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House]] }}
* {{cite web |url=https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/hansard80/hansards80/1917-02-22/toc_pdf/19170222_senate_6_81.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%221910s%201917%2002%22 |title=Senate – Official Hansard – No. 8, 1917 – Sixth Parliament |date=22 February 1917 |website=[[Parliament of Australia]] |ref={{harvid|Hansard|1917}}}}
* {{cite journal |date=November 1929 |title=Australian Election Gives Labor Majority To Form Government |jstor=45336155 |journal=[[Current History]] |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=381–383 |ref={{harvid|Current History|1929}}}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Kirk |first1=Neville |date=November 2006 |title='Australians for Australia': The Right, the Labor Party and Contested Loyalties to Nation and Empire in Australia, 1917 to the Early 1930s |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27516154 |journal=[[Labour History (journal)|Labour History]] |volume=91 |issue= |pages=95–111 |doi=10.2307/27516154 |url-access=subscription }}
{{Refend}}

==References==
{{Commons category|Nationalist Party of Australia}}
* {{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |year=1983 |title=William Morris (Billy) Hughes (1862–1952) |id2=hughes-william-morris-billy-6761 |first=L. F. |last=Fitzhardinge  |access-date=18 August 2025}}
* {{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |year=1979 |title=Stanley Melbourne Bruce (1883–1967) |id2=bruce-stanley-melbourne-5400 |first=Heather  |last=Radi |access-date=18 August 2025}}
* {{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |year=1986 |title=Sir John Greig Latham (1877–1964) |id2=latham-sir-john-greig-7104 |first=Stuart  |last=Macintyre |access-date=18 August 2025}}


{{Liberal Party of Australia}}
{{Defunct Australian political parties}}
{{New South Wales political parties}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nationalist Party Of Australia}}
[[Category:Defunct political parties in Australia]]
[[Category:Australian nationalist parties]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1917]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1931]]
[[Category:1917 establishments in Australia]]
[[Category:1931 disestablishments in Australia]]