1945 Neutral Bay state by-election

The seat of Neutral Bay, a safe Liberal seat, was held since 1927 by Reginald Weaver, who served as a Minister of the Crown in the Bavin and Stevens Governments. Weaver was the Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly until 1941 and the Leader of the Opposition since February 1944. He was also the first parliamentary leader of the newly formed New South Wales Liberal Party since April 1945. Weaver suffered a heart attack in the Legislative Assembly chamber on the evening of 7 November 1945, and died a week later on 12 November 1945 at Hornsby Hospital.{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |first=Helen |last=Bourke |title =Weaver, Reginald Walter Darcy (1876-1945) |id2=weaver-reginald-walter-9022 |access-date=24 July 2020}}

Only two candidates nominated for the by-election. They were: Ivan Black, a barrister and war veteran, for the Liberal Party and Kenneth McLeod Bolton, a merchant, standing as an independent. A. E. Newland, the candidate of the small Services and Consumers Party of Australia, who had previously expressed interest in contesting, did not nominate because his name was not on the state electoral roll.{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17961745 |title=Neutral Bay election |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=5 December 1945 |page=4 |via=Trove |access-date=2011-02-02}}

The Liberal Party retained the seat, with a minimal change in the margin. The Liberal candidate, Ivan Black, emerged with 56% of the vote against Independent Kenneth Bolton.

{{Election box begin

|title=1945 Neutral Bay by-election
Saturday 15 December{{hsp}}{{cite NSW election |title=1945 Neutral Bay by-election |year=1944 |district=NeutralBay_1 |access-date=24 July 2020}}

}}

{{Election box candidate AU party

|candidate = Ivan Black

|party = Liberal NSW

|votes = 10,839

|percentage = 56.4

|change = -0.5

}}

{{Election box candidate AU party

|candidate = Kenneth Bolton

|party = Independent

|votes = 8,393

|percentage = 43.6

|change =

}}

{{Election box formal

|votes = 19,232

|percentage = 96.7

|change = -0.9

}}

{{Election box informal

|votes = 657

|percentage = 3.3

|change = +0.9

}}

{{Election box turnout

|votes = 19,889

|percentage = 77.6

|change = -12.9

}}

{{Election box hold AU party

|winner = Liberal NSW

|swing = N/A

}}

{{Election box end}}

Reginald Weaver ({{Australian politics/name|Liberal NSW}}) died.

• Electoral results for the district of Neutral Bay
• List of New South Wales state by-elections

{{reflist}}

{{NSW by-elections 34th parl|state=expanded}}

{{Results of New South Wales state elections}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neutral Bay 1945}}

Category:New South Wales state by-elections

Category:1945 elections in Australia

Category:1940s in New South Wales

Category:December 1945 in Australia