A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Hunter on 9 April 1960.
This was triggered by the resignation of Labor MP and former Opposition Leader H. V. Evatt.
A by-election for the seat of La Trobe was held on the same day.
The governing Liberal Party did not field a candidate, leaving as James' main opposition independent labor candidate Bob Brown, a shop-keeper and councillor on Cessnock City Council.
He was apparently not related to the Bob Brown, who would win the seat as the endorsed Labor candidate twenty years later.