Electoral district of North Perth
former electoral district of Western Australia

The Electoral district of North Perth was a Legislative Assembly electorate in the state of Western Australia. The district was named for its location immediately to the north of the central business district of Perth.
North Perth was created under the Constitution Acts Amendment Act 1896, which took effect at the 1897 election. Its first election was notable in producing Western Australia's first Labor member of Parliament, Charles Oldham, who had been a president of the Trades and Labor Council and had become an employer, and hence could afford to run in the days prior to payment of members. Oldham associated with the official opposition led by George Leake, but ultimately his seat was declared vacant for non-attendance on 16 October 1900. An independent, Richard Speight, won at the subsequent general election four months later, but died seven months into his term.
The seat changed hands several times between Labor and non-Labor members until 1914, when James MacCallum Smith won the seat for the Liberal party, which folded into the Nationalist. He and his Nationalist successor Arthur Abbott were the seat's only members until a major redistribution following the abolition of the neighbouring Perth seat at the 1950 election transformed it into a marginal seat. Future Premier of Western Australia (1982–1983), Ray O'Connor, won his first term of office against the incumbent Labor member Stan Lapham in the 1959 election. The seat was abolished in a redistribution in 1961 ahead of the 1962 election, and the seat was split between a recreated Perth seat and Mount Lawley.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Electoral district of North Perth” as former electoral district of Western Australia. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as former electoral district of Western Australia. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 8, 2023. The linked authority identifier is Q5355805. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1896, 1897, 1900 and 1914.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Electoral district of North Perth”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Electoral district of North Perth primary sources, Electoral district of North Perth archive and Electoral research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Electoral district of North Perth”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Electoral district of North Perth” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.