National Party (South Australia)
{{for|the present-day party|South Australian National Party}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2019}}
{{Infobox political party
|name = National Party (SA)
| colorcode = {{Australian politics/party colours|national sa}}
| foundation = {{Start date|1917}}
| dissolution = {{End date|1923}}
| predecessor = Australian Labor Party (SA)
| merged = Liberal Federation
| country = Australia
}}
The National Party was a political party active in South Australia from 1917 to 1923. As with the federal National Labor Party, it was created in the wake of the Australian Labor Party split over conscription, resulting in the February 1917 expulsion from the South Australian Labor Party of the Premier, Crawford Vaughan, and his supporters.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5561468 |title=THE LABOR SPLIT. |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=13 February 1917 |accessdate=17 January 2015 |page=7 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} It was initially known as the National Labor Party like its federal counterpart, but was renamed at a conference in June 1917.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59970851 |title=STATE POLITICS. |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=12 April 1917 |accessdate=17 January 2015 |page=7 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article105413864 |title=NATIONAL PARTY. |newspaper=Daily Herald |location=Adelaide |date=28 June 1917 |accessdate=17 January 2015 |page=4 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} The party initially continued in government under Vaughan, but was subsequently defeated in parliament in July 1917, and thereafter served as the junior partner in a coalition with the Liberal Union under Archibald Peake.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60473264 |title="SUDDEN DEATH.". |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=13 July 1917 |accessdate=17 January 2015 |page=7 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
After the 1915 election, the ALP had 26 of 46 House of Assembly members, of whom all but seven defected to National Labor. In the Legislative Council, the ALP had 7 of 20 members, of whom four defected. Seven National Labor MPs were re-elected at the 1918 election. Following that election, William Harvey was left as the only National Labor MLC. Peter Reidy was left as the only National Labor MP following the 1921 election.
The party discussed a merger with the Liberal Union in late 1917, but negotiations broke down. The main sticking point was the National Party's support for the right of both husband and wife to vote in households which met the property qualification to elect the Legislative Council - the so-called "dual vote".{{cite news |title=Union of Parties |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5576223 |accessdate=2019-11-28 |work=The Advertiser |date=1917-11-30 |location=Adelaide}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article105443743 |title=ORGANIC UNION. |newspaper=Daily Herald |location=Adelaide |date=29 November 1917 |accessdate=17 January 2015 |page=4 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} Nonetheless, the two parties contested the 1918 state election in coalition after a protracted period of negotiations.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60335132 |title=STATE POLITICS. |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=7 February 1918 |accessdate=17 January 2015 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46839775 |title=STATE POLITICS. |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=11 February 1932 |accessdate=17 January 2015 |page=12 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
Following conflict with their senior coalition partner, the National Party ministers were forced to resign from the Cabinet in late 1920, and the party contested the 1921 election, in conjunction with several former Liberals, as the Progressive Country Party. In the absence of any general agreement for the Liberal Union to not contest National Party/Progressive Country seats, the National Party were soundly defeated by their former coalition partner. Five incumbent MPs contested the election under the Progressive Country Party banner: Peter Reidy (Victoria), Edward Alfred Anstey and William David Ponder (North Adelaide), Frederick Coneybeer (East Torrens) and Thomas Hyland Smeaton (Sturt). Former MP John Vaughan also contested Sturt.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article73349938 |title=THE COMING ELECTIONS. |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=21 January 1921 |accessdate=14 May 2015 |page=7 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63886147 |title=HOPE ABANDONED. |newspaper=The Mail |location=Adelaide |date=12 March 1921 |accessdate=14 May 2015 |page=2 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37097743 |title=THE PROGRESSIVE COUNTRY PARTY AND CANDIDATES. |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=5 March 1921 |accessdate=14 May 2015 |page=13 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} Of those five, only Reidy survived, having personally arranged with the Liberal Union to be unopposed. William Humphrey Harvey, who had not been up for re-election, remained as the sole survivor of the party in the Legislative Council,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46839775 |title=STATE POLITICS. |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=11 February 1932 |accessdate=17 January 2015 |page=12 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63038452 |title=DECISIVE LIBERAL VICTORY. |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=11 April 1921 |accessdate=14 May 2015 |page=7 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} but he subsequently joined the Liberal Union in July 1921.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63189861 |title=NEWS OF THE DAY. |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=14 July 1921 |accessdate=17 January 2015 |page=6 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} The party was again being referred to as the National Party when it merged with the Liberal Union to create the Liberal Federation in October 1923.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article77740491 |title=TELEGRAMS. |newspaper=The Border Watch|location=Mount Gambier, SA |date=16 October 1923 |accessdate=17 January 2015 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65035068 |title=NEWS OF THE DAY. |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=16 October 1923 |accessdate=17 January 2015 |page=8 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}