The following is a Chronology of the Federal Parliaments of Australia

Parliament of Australia

The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, largely modelled in the Westminster tradition, but with some influences from the United States Congress...

.

The sequence of parliaments is determined by the opening and dissolution (or expiration) of the House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

. The Senate

Australian Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

 is not normally dissolved at all, except at a double dissolution

Double dissolution

A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks between the House of Representatives and the Senate....

, when the entire parliament is dissolved.

Parliaments do not have a fixed term. The maximum term permitted by s.28 of the Constitution of Australia

Constitution of Australia

The Constitution of Australia is the supreme law under which the Australian Commonwealth Government operates. It consists of several documents. The most important is the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia...

 is three years, counted from the date the parliament first meets after a general election. However, the Governor-General

Governor-General of Australia

The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...

, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Australia

The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...

, may dissolve the parliament earlier. This has happened in all but one case (the 3rd Parliament 1907-1910). However, seven parliaments have exceeded 2 years 300 days. The average length of completed parliaments since Federation

Federation of Australia

The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia formed one nation...

 has been about 2 years 128 days.

Parliaments may be divided into one or more sessions. Each session except the last must be prorogued before a new session can begin. One of the effects of prorogation is that it prevents the Senate from meeting and conducting its business after the House of Representatives has concluded its business. Between 1928 and 1989, the last or sole session of a parliament was not prorogued, as the parliament was dissolved. Since 1993, the session has been prorogued prior to dissolution.

Number and Session	Date of general election (time since last election)	Date of opening	Last sitting day of the House of Representatives Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....	Date of prorogation	Date of dissolution (or expiration)	Length of the parliament
1st Parliament	29 & 30 March 1901
First Session		9 May 1901	10 October 1902	10 October 1902
Second Session		26 May 1903	22 October 1903	22 October 1903	23 November 1903	2 years 199 days
2nd Parliament	16 December 1903  (2 years 261 days)
First Session		2 March 1904	15 December 1904	15 December 1904
Second Session		28 June 1905	21 December 1905	21 December 1905
Third Session		7 June 1906	12 October 1906	12 October 1906	5 November 1906	2 years 249 days
3rd Parliament	12 December 1906  (2 years 361 days)
First Session		20 February 1907	21 February 1907	22 February 1907
Second Session		3 July 1907	5 June 1908	11 June 1908
Third Session		16 September 1908	11 December 1908	15 December 1908
Fourth Session		26 May 1909	8 December 1909	13 December 1909	19 February 1910 (expired)	3 years
4th Parliament	13 April 1910 Australian federal election, 1910 Federal elections were held in Australia on 13 April 1910. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...   (3 years 122 days)
First Session		1 July 1910	25 November 1910	29 November 1910
Second Session		5 September 1911	19-21 December 1911	22 December 1911
Third Session		19 June 1912	20-21 December 1912	8 January 1913	23 April 1913	2 years 297 days
5th Parliament	31 May 1913 Australian federal election, 1913 Federal elections were held in Australia on 31 May 1913. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister of Australia Andrew Fisher was defeated by the opposition Commonwealth Liberal...   (3 years 48 days)
First Session		9 July 1913	18-19 December 1913	19 December 1913
Second Session		15 April 1914	26 June 1914	27 June 1914	30 July 1914	1 year 22 days
6th Parliament	5 September 1914 Australian federal election, 1914 Federal elections were held in Australia on 5 September 1914. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 36 seats in the Senate were up for election in a double dissolution...   (1 year 97 days)
First Session		8 October 1914	16-17 March 1917	20 March 1917	26 March 1917	2 years 203 days
7th Parliament	5 May 1917 Australian federal election, 1917 Federal elections were held in Australia on 5 May 1917. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...   (2 years 242 days)
First Session		14 June 1917	14 June 1917	16 June 1917
Second Session		11 July 1917	24 October 1919	28 October 1919	3 November 1919	2 years 143 days
8th Parliament	13 December 1919 Australian federal election, 1919 Federal elections were held in Australia on 13 December 1919. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes defeated the opposition Australian...   (2 years 222 days)
First Session		26 February 1920	9-10 December 1921	5 January 1922
Second Session		28 June 1922	12-14 October 1922	18 October 1922	6 November 1922	2 years 254 days
9th Parliament	16 December 1922 Australian federal election, 1922 Federal elections were held in Australia on 16 December 1922. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes lost its majority...   (3 years 3 days)
First Session		28 February 1923	9 March 1923	21 March 1923
Second Session		13 June 1923	9-10 October 1924	30 April 1925
Third Session		10 June 1925	23-25 September 1925	28 September 1925	3 October 1925	2 years 218 days
10th Parliament	14 November 1925 Australian federal election, 1925 Federal elections were held in Australia on 14 November 1925. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 22 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...   (2 years 333 days)
First Session		13 January 1926	21-22 September 1928		9 October 1928	2 years 271 days
11th Parliament	17 November 1928 Australian federal election, 1928 Federal elections were held in Australia on 17 November 1928. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...   (3 years 3 days)
First Session		6 February 1929	12 September 1929		16 September 1929	0 years 223 days
12th Parliament	12 October 1929 Australian federal election, 1929 Federal elections were held in Australia on 12 October 1929. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election, with no Senate seats up for election, as a result of Billy Hughes and other rebel backbenchers crossing the floor over industrial relations legislation, depriving the...   (0 years 329 days)
First Session		20 November 1929	26 November 1931		27 November 1931	2 years 8 days
13th Parliament	19 December 1931 Australian federal election, 1931 Federal elections were held in Australia on 19 December 1931. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...   (2 years 68 days)
First Session		17 February 1932	1-2 August 1934		7 August 1934	2 years 172 days
14th Parliament	15 September 1934 Australian federal election, 1934 Federal elections were held in Australia on 15 September 1934. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent United Australia Party led by Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons with coalition partner the Country Party led...   (2 years 270 days)
First Session		23 October 1934	11 December 1936	27 May 1937
Second Session		17 June 1937	15 September 1937		21 September 1937	2 years 334 days
15th Parliament	23 October 1937 Australian federal election, 1937 Federal elections were held in Australia on 23 October 1937. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...   (3 years 38 days)
First Session		30 November 1937	7-8 December 1939	14 March 1940
Second Session		17 April 1940	21-22 August 1940		27 August 1940	2 years 272 days
16th Parliament	21 September 1940 Australian federal election, 1940 Federal elections were held in Australia on 21 September 1940. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...   (2 years 333 days)
First Session		20 November 1940	1 July 1943		7 July 1943	2 years 230 days
17th Parliament	21 August 1943 Australian federal election, 1943 Federal elections were held in Australia on 21 August 1943. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister of Australia John Curtin easily defeated the opposition Country Party led...   (2 years 334 days)
First Session		23 September 1943	30-31 March 1944	5 July 1944
Second Session		17 July 1944	1 December 1944	8 February 1945
Third Session		21 February 1945	9 August 1946		16 August 1946	2 years 328 days
18th Parliament	28 September 1946 Australian federal election, 1946 Federal elections were held in Australia on 28 September 1946. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...   (3 years 38 days)
First Session		6 November 1946	17-18 June 1948	4 August 1948
Second Session		1 September 1948	27 October 1949		31 October 1949	2 years 360 days
19th Parliament	10 December 1949 Australian federal election, 1949 Federal elections were held in Australia on 10 December 1949. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives, and 42 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, where the single transferable vote was introduced...   (3 years 73 days)
First Session		22 February 1950	16 March 1951		19 March 1951	1 year 26 days
20th Parliament	28 April 1951 Australian federal election, 1951 Federal elections were held in Australia on 28 April 1951. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, due to a double dissolution called after the Senate rejected the Commonwealth Bank Bill...   (1 year 139 days)
First Session		12 June 1951	22 October 1953	30 October 1953
Second Session		10 November 1953	2-3 December 1953	4 February 1954
Third Session		15 February 1954	14 April 1954		21 April 1954	2 years 314 days
21st Parliament	29 May 1954 Australian federal election, 1954 Federal elections were held in Australia on 29 May 1954. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election, no Senate election took place...   (3 years 31 days)
First Session		4 August 1954	27-28 October 1955		4 November 1955	1 year 93 days
22nd Parliament	10 December 1955 Australian federal election, 1955 Federal elections were held in Australia on 10 December 1955. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives, and 30 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies with coalition partner the Country Party...   (1 year 195 days)
First Session		15 February 1956	8 November 1956	7 March 1957
Second Session		19 March 1957	5 December 1957	11 February 1958
Third Session		25 February 1958	1-2 October 1958		14 October 1958	2 years 242 days
23rd Parliament	22 November 1958 Australian federal election, 1958 Federal elections were held in Australia on 22 November 1958. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives, and 32 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election...   (2 years 347 days)
First Session		17 February 1959	3 December 1959	10 February 1960
Second Session		8 March 1960	8-9 December 1960	20 February 1961
Third Session		7 March 1961	26-27 October 1961		2 November 1961	2 years 259 days
24th Parliament	9 December 1961 Australian federal election, 1961 Federal elections were held in Australia on 9 December 1961. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives, and 31 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election...   (3 years 17 days)
First Session		20 February 1962	30 October 1963		1 November 1963	1 year 255 days
25th Parliament	30 November 1963  (1 year 356 days)
First Session		25 February 1964	28 October 1966		31 October 1966	2 years 249 days
26th Parliament	26 November 1966 Australian federal election, 1966 Federal elections were held in Australia on 26 November 1966. All 124 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt with coalition partner the Country Party led by John McEwen defeated the...   (2 years 361 days)
First Session		21 February 1967	8-9 November 1967	9 February 1968
Second Session		12 March 1968	26 September 1969		29 September 1969	2 years 221 days
27th Parliament	25 October 1969 Australian federal election, 1969 Federal elections were held in Australia on 25 October 1969. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia John Gorton with coalition partner the Country Party led by John McEwen defeated the Australian...   (2 years 334 days)
First Session		25 November 1969	25-26 November 1969	23 February 1970
Second Session		3 March 1970	26 October 1972		2 November 1972	2 years 344 days
28th Parliament	2 December 1972 Australian federal election, 1972 Federal elections were held in Australia on 2 December 1972. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election. The Liberal Party of Australia had been in power since 1949, under Prime Minister of Australia William McMahon since March 1971 with coalition partner the Country Party...   (3 years 38 days)
First Session		27 February 1973	13 December 1973	14 February 1974
Second Session		28 February 1974	10 April 1974		11 April 1974	1 year 44 days
29th Parliament	18 May 1974 Australian federal election, 1974 Federal elections were held in Australia on 18 May 1974. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, due to a double dissolution...   (1 year 167 days)
First Session		9 July 1974	11 November 1975		11 November 1975	1 year 126 days
30th Parliament	13 December 1975 Australian federal election, 1975 Federal elections were held in Australia on 13 December 1975. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 64 seats in the Senate were up for election following a double dissolution of both Houses....   (1 year 209 days)
First Session		17 February 1976	24 February 1977	28 February 1977
Second Session		8 March 1977	8 November 1977		10 November 1977	1 year 267 days
31st Parliament	10 December 1977 Australian federal election, 1977 Federal elections were held in Australia on 10 December 1977. All 124 seats in the House of Representatives, and 34 of the 64 seats in the Senate, were up for election....   (1 year 362 days)
First Session		21 February 1978	18 September 1980		19 September 1980	2 years 212 days
32nd Parliament	18 October 1980 Australian federal election, 1980 Federal elections were held in Australia on 18 October 1980. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives, and 34 of the 64 seats in the Senate, were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Malcolm Fraser with coalition partner the National Country Party led by Doug...   (2 years 312 days)
First Session		25 November 1980	14-15 December 1982		4 February 1983	2 years 72 days
33rd Parliament	5 March 1983 Australian federal election, 1983 Federal elections were held in Australia on 5 March 1983. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 64 seats in the Senate, were up for election, following a double dissolution...   (2 years 138 days)
First Session		21 April 1983	11 October 1984		26 October 1984	1 year 189 days
34th Parliament	1 December 1984  (1 year 271 days)
First Session		21 February 1985	4 June 1987		5 June 1987	2 years 105 days
35th Parliament	11 July 1987  (2 years 222 days)
First Session		14 September 1987	22 December 1989		19 February 1990	2 years 159 days
36th Parliament	24 March 1990  (2 years 256 days)
First Session		8 May 1990	17-18 December 1992	8 February 1993	8 February 1993	2 years 277 days
37th Parliament	13 March 1993  (2 years 356 days)
First Session		4 May 1993	30 November- 1 December 1995	29 January 1996	29 January 1996	2 years 271 days
38th Parliament	2 March 1996  (2 years 356 days)
First Session		30 April 1996	15 July 1998	31 August 1998	31 August 1998	2 years 124 days
39th Parliament	3 October 1998  (2 years 215 days)
First Session		10 November 1998	27 September 2001	8 October 2001	8 October 2001	2 years 333 days
40th Parliament	10 November 2001  (3 years 38 days)
First Session		12 February 2002	12-13 August 2004	31 August 2004	31 August 2004	2 years 202 days
41st Parliament	9 October 2004 (2 years 333 days)
First Session		16 November 2004	20 September 2007	15 October 2007	17 October 2007	2 years 336 days
42nd Parliament	24 November 2007  (3 years 46 days)
First Session		12 February 2008	24 June 2010	19 July 2010	19 July 2010	2 years 158 days
43rd Parliament	21 August 2010 (2 years 270 days)
First Session		28 September 2010

Sources

• House of Representatives Practice, Appendix 15: Chronology of Parliaments