Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division)
The Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division), sometimes known as Liberal Victoria and more colloquially as the Victorian Liberals, is the state division of the Liberal Party of Australia in the state of Victoria. This division is branded as Liberal Victoria. It was established in 1949 under the name Liberal and Country Party (LCP), but in 1965 it was rebranded as the more straightforward Liberal Party.
When the Liberal Party was first established in 1945, there was a Victorian section of the Liberal Party. However, this split ceased to exist in March 1949, when it was amalgamated to create the Liberal Country Party.
When it became apparent on October 2, 1945, that the Victorian Legislative Assembly would not grant supply to the Dunstan government, the Governor of Victoria, Sir Winston Dugan, commissioned the deputy leader of the Liberal Party, Ian Macfarlan, to form a government and give him the authority to do so. One month later, another election was held, and this time it was the Labor Party that emerged victorious.
Robert Menzies, who served as Prime Minister of Australia from 1939 to 1941, established the Liberal Party at a conference that took place in Canberra in October 1944. This conference brought together a number of non-Labor political organisations, such as the United Australia Party (UAP) and the Australian Women's National League. Menzies founded the Liberal Party (AWNL).
The United Australia Party (UAP) was a strong conservative party in Australia. Under the leadership of Stanley Argyle, the UAP served as the government of Victoria for the final time from May 1932 until April 1935. Argyle was ousted from the position of premier when the United Country Party, a coalition partner of the United Australia Party headed by Albert Dunstan, severed ties with the coalition and created a minority government with the backing of Labor. Following Argyle's passing in late 1941, Thomas Hollway assumed the role of head of the UAP in the state of Victoria. Since September 1943, whilst he was still serving as head of the UAP, he held the position of Deputy Premier in the Dunstan coalition government.
The Australian Women's National League (AWNL) was a conservative women's organisation that was established and initially located in Victoria, but by the time World War I had ended, it had extended throughout Australia. Both Dame Elizabeth Couchman and Ivy Wedgwood, who would later become senators, were from Victoria and served in leadership roles for the organisation. Menzies acknowledged the AWNL as one of the non-Labor organisations in Victoria that has been around for a long time at the meeting that took place in October 1944.
Between the months of December 1944 and January 1945, the Liberal Party was formed in the state of Victoria. The names of the temporary state executive were made public on the 29th of December 1944, and the inaugural meeting of the party was held on the 5th of January 1945. Couchman and Wedgwood, who were both leaders in AWNL, were members of the state executive. On the 30th of January in 1945, the AWNL became a member of the Liberal Party. On March 5, 1945, the United Australia Party (UAP) and its members of parliament, including Hollway, joined the Liberal Party. As a result, the state legislative UAP changed its name to the state parliamentary Liberal Party. As a direct consequence of this, Hollway was elevated to the position of first legislative leader of the Liberal Party in Victoria.