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Gundagai - 1898 (Roll: 2,388)
Retained by National Federal
Nominations: Wednesday, 20 July 1898
No absolute majority for winning candidate
Candidate Party Votes Votes %
Barnes, John Frederick (Re-elected) National Federal 591 39.72
Matchett, William Labor Party 70 4.70
Miller, John James Ind Federalist 511 34.34
Sibthorpe, Waldo Homan Ind Federalist 316 21.24
Formal Votes 1,488
Informal Votes 29 1.91
Total Votes / Turnout 1,517 63.53
Notes: Various sources indicate that both Miller and Sibthorpe were Independents in support of Federation, while Barnes was clearly listed as the selected National Federal. Loveday, Martin and Weller (p.215) note that Barnes was a candidate selected by local protectionist, and the decision of the National Federal Association to include him in their selected list caused the local Federal Association to back Miller. Despite there being no official Free Trade candidate, Labor candidate Matchett was not included in Reid's list of supported candidates, SMH 27 July, p.2 col.7. Matchett's low vote suggests he may actually have withdrawn from the contest.
Source: SMH 30 July 1898, p.10 col.4 reported as 'official declaration of the poll'. Same totals in Gundagai Times, 2 August p.2 col.5.
Corrections: Year Book of Australia (1899) and Hughes and Graham (1975) have slightly different results where Miller has 488 votes and Sibthorpe 343. Statistical Register reported 1492 formal votes, but this has been ignored and the total matching the newspaper reports has been used.