Awarua (New Zealand electorate)

Awarua was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate from 1881 to 1996.

Population centres

The previous electoral redistribution was undertaken in 1875 for the 1875–1876 election. In the six years since, New Zealand's European population had increased by 65%. In the 1881 electoral redistribution, the House of Representatives increased the number of European representatives to 91 (up from 84 since the 1875–76 election). The number of Māori electorates was held at four. The House further decided that electorates should not have more than one representative, which led to 22 new electorates being formed, including Awarua, and two electorates that had previously been abolished to be recreated. This necessitated a major disruption to existing boundaries.^[1]

This electorate was in the rural part of Southland. In its original form, it covered the area around the town of Invercargill, which had its own electorate. Bluff fell into Awarua, and all of Stewart Island / Rakiura.^[2] On the mainland, Awarua had taken area from Riverton (which was abolished) and from Mataura (which moved to the east and north). Stewart Island had previously belonged to Wallace.^[3]

History

The electorate was established in 1881. It was represented by the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward from 1887 to 1919. Philip De La Perrelle announced his retirement due to ill health in August 1935.^[4] He died within days of the 1935 election^[5] and was succeeded by James Hargest.^[6]

In the 1996 election, the first MMP election, the electorate was absorbed into the adjacent Invercargill electorate.

Members of Parliament

Key

  Independent   Liberal   Reform   United   National   Labour

Election	Winner
1881 election		James Joyce
1884 election
1887 election		Joseph Ward
1890 election
1893 election
1896 election
1897 by-election
1899 election
1902 election
1905 election
1908 election
1911 election
1914 election
1919 election		John Hamilton
1922 election		Philip De La Perrelle
1925 election		John Hamilton
1928 election		Philip De La Perrelle
1931 election
1935 election		James Hargest1
1938 election
1943 election
1944 by-election		George Herron
1946 election
1949 election
1951 election
1954 election
1957 election		Gordon Grieve
1960 election
1963 election
1966 election
1969 election		Hugh Templeton
1972 election		Aubrey Begg
1975 election		Rex Austin
1978 election
1981 election
1984 election
1987 election		Jeff Grant
1990 election
1993 election		Eric Roy
(Electorate abolished in 1996; see Invercargill)

¹James Hargest was originally an Independent supporter of the Reform Party. He joined the National Party in 1936.

Election results

1963 election

1963 general election: Awarua^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Gordon Grieve	7,869	55.2	−1.7
	Labour	Noel Valentine	4,496	31.6
	Social Credit	D McNaughton	1,194	8.4	+0.2
	Liberal	R J Egerton	691	4.8
Majority			3,373	23.6	+1.6
Turnout			16,301	87.9	+0.3

1944 by-election

1944 Awarua by-election^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	George Herron	4,659	62.40
	Labour	Leo Sylvester O'Sullivan	2,558	34.26
	Real Democracy	Robert Henderson	249	3.33
Majority			2,101	28.14
Turnout			7,466

1935 election

1935 general election: Awarua^[9][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	James Hargest[nb 1]	3,651	41.32
	Labour	Thomas Francis Doyle[11]	2,701	30.57
	Democrat	L. A. Neiderer[nb 2]	2,182	24.70
	Independent	Norman MacIntyre[13]	301	3.41
Majority			950	10.75
Informal votes			140	1.56
Turnout			8,975	94.14
Registered electors			9,534

Table footnotes:

1. James Hargest ran as an Independent, but was aligned to the Reform Party^[6]
2. Neiderer was a former chairman of the Southland County Council^[12]

1931 election

1931 general election: Awarua^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United	Philip De La Perrelle	4,645	65.04	+10.38
	Independent	Norman McIntyre[15]	2,497	34.96
Majority			2,148	30.08	+17.47
Informal votes			134	1.84	+0.95
Turnout			7,276	83.82	−9.98
Registered electors			8,681

1928 election

1928 general election: Awarua^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United	Philip De La Perrelle	4,358	54.66	+6.09
	Reform	John Hamilton	3,353	42.05	−9.37
	Labour	William Denham	262	3.29
Majority			1,005	12.61	+9.75
Informal votes			72	0.89	+0.49
Turnout			8,045	93.80	−0.25
Registered electors			8,577

1925 election

1925 general election: Awarua^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	John Hamilton	3,962	51.43	+2.81
	Liberal	Philip De La Perrelle	3,742	48.57	−0.76
Majority			220	2.86	+2.14
Informal votes			31	0.40
Turnout			7,704	94.04	+4.39
Registered electors			8,192

1922 election

1922 general election: Awarua^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Philip De La Perrelle	3,531	49.33
	Reform	John Hamilton	3,480	48.62
	Independent	Norman McIntyre[19]	147	2.05
Majority			51	0.71
Turnout			7,158	89.65
Registered electors			7,984

1919 election

1919 general election: Awarua^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	John Hamilton	3,164	55.99	+18.16
	Liberal	Sir Joseph Ward	2,407	42.59	−19.57
Informal votes			80	1.41	+0.74
Majority			757	13.39
Turnout			5,651	81.46	+1.57
Registered electors			6,937

1914 election

1914 general election: Awarua^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Joseph Ward	3,132	62.16	+8.51
	Reform	John Hamilton	1,906	37.83	−4.18
Informal votes			34	0.67	+0.85
Majority			1,226	24.33	+12.69
Turnout			5,038	83.03	+3.68
Registered electors			6,067

1911 election

1911 general election: Awarua, First ballot^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Joseph Ward	2,893	53.65	−11.27
	Reform	John Hamilton	2,265	42.01
	Independent	William Morris	152	2.81	−15.93
Informal votes			82	1.52	−2.22
Majority			628	11.64	−34.18
Turnout			5,392	86.71	+5.06
Registered electors			6,218

1908 election

1908 general election: Awarua, First ballot^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Joseph Ward	3,069	64.92	−16.76
	Independent	William Morris	886	18.74
	Conservative	Alfred Snowball	595	12.58
Informal votes			177	3.74	+2.24
Majority			2,183	46.18	−18.69
Turnout			4,727	81.65	−1.74
Registered electors			5,789

1905 election

1905 general election: Awarua^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Joseph Ward	3,586	81.68	+6.31
	Independent	Henry Woodnorth	738	16.82
Informal votes			66	1.50
Majority			2,848	64.87	+14.12
Turnout			4,390	83.39	−6.70
Registered electors			5,264

1902 election

1902 general election: Awarua^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Joseph Ward	2,795	75.37	−2.55
	Independent	David Whyte	913	24.63
Majority			1,882	50.75
Turnout			3,708	76.69	+0.32
Registered electors			4,835

1899 election

1899 general election: Awarua^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Ward	2,417	77.92	+14.06
	Conservative	W. T. Murray[27]	685	22.08
Majority			1,732	55.83	+28.12
Turnout			3,102	76.37
Registered electors			4,062

1897 by-election

1897 Awarua by-election^[28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Ward	2,066	69.42	+5.82
	Conservative	Cuthbert Cowan	910	30.58	−5.82
Turnout			2,976
Majority			1,156	38.84	+11.65

1896 election

1896 general election: Awarua^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Ward	1,836	63.60
	Conservative	Cuthbert Cowan[30]	1,051	36.40
Turnout			2,887	72.68
Majority			785	27.19
Registered electors			3,887

1893 election

1893 general election: Awarua^[31][32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Ward	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,129

1890 election

1890 general election: Awarua^[33]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Ward	Unopposed
Registered electors			2,158

1887 election

1887 general election: Awarua^[34]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Joseph Ward	660	50.84
	Independent	George Froggatt	401	30.89
	Independent	James Walker Bain	237	18.25
Majority			259	19.95
Turnout			1,298	62.46
Registered electors			2,078

1884 election

1884 general election: Awarua^[35]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	James Joyce	398	43.54
	Independent	John Lyon McDonald	311	34.03
	Independent	Andrew Kinross[36][37]	74	8.10
	Independent	John Walker Mitchell	67	7.33
	Independent	Thomas Hodgkinson[38]	64	7.00
Majority			87	9.52
Turnout			914