Kearsley Shire was a local government area in the Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia.
[5] Other towns and villages in the shire included Branxton, Greta and Kearsley.
At the 1944 election, the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) won a majority with five out of eight seats.
According to the CPA's official newspaper, Tribune, this was the first time a communist party had won a local government majority in the English-speaking world.
[8][9] Ahead of the 1947 local elections, the state Labor government introduced compulsory voting for local elections, seen as an attempt to give them an advantage and harm the Communist Party.