Nationalist Party (Australia)
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 Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the latter formed by Prime Minister Billy Hughes and his supporters after the 1916 Labor Party split over 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 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.
Billy Hughes, founder and Nationalist Prime Minister, 1917–23.
Image: Billy Hughes 1916
Image: Stanley Bruce 1927 (cropped)
Image: John Latham 1931 01
Liberal Party (Australia, 1909)
The Liberal Party was a parliamentary party in Australian federal politics between 1909 and 1917. The party was founded under Alfred Deakin's leadership as a merger of the Protectionist Party and Anti-Socialist Party, an event known as the Fusion.
Joseph Cook, Prime Minister of Australia 1913–1914
Cartoon by Claude Marquet depicting the Fusion as a camel, with Alfred Deakin as its head and Joseph Cook and John Forrest as humps
Image: Alfred Deakin Elliott & Fry (cropped)
Image: Joseph Cook Broothorn Studios