Guide 3 to NSW State Archives relating to Responsible Government - OCR - Flipbook - Page 17
A Guide to New South Wales State Archives relating to Responsible Government
officials, and since no law could even be discussed without the Governor's consent, it was
still only rarely that conflict arose. 2
Importantly, however, the new Act also provided that summaries of proposed laws must
be published in the newspapers eight days before they could be introduced into the
Council. This "together with the fact that Councillors were no longer compelled to take
the oath of secrecy, made it easier for public opinion to understand and criticise what the
Government was doing".3 Openness was further increased in 1832 when the press was
allowed to observe and report the proceedings of the Council and in 1838 when the
public was admitted to the gallery.
Throughout the 1820s and 1830s political agitation for free institutions intensified. The
chief agitators were the "emancipists" and the "exclusives". The "emancipists" wanted all
the rights of a British subject. On the other hand the "exclusives" thought it undesirable
and dangerous to give the ex-convict classes what would be a majority vote. They were
also against trial by jury for similar reasons. As the number of free immigrants and
colonial free-born gradually increased, the alleged danger to society of granting free
institutions became less. No longer would a representative assembly be dominated by
the votes of ex-convicts, or a jury be composed of former felons; by 1840 the political
divisions of New South Wales were tending to follow the more usual groupings of rich
and poor, rather than the earlier distinction between free and convict. By this time there
were signs of working class organization, with political agitation, and occasional strikes.
Colonial opinion was united in demanding representative institutions of some kind.
These movements were reflected in the Imperial Act of 1842, An Act for the Government
of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, 5 & 6 Vic c.76, which gave to New South
Wales a limited form of representative government. This Act constituted a Legislative
Council of 36 members of which 12 were to be appointed by Her Majesty from time to
time and the other 24 were to be elected by the inhabitants of the Colony. The Act also
specified: that the Legislature was to enact legislation constituting Electoral Districts, for
declaring the number of members to be elected for each District, for the compilation and
revision of the Electoral Lists and so on; and, the qualifications of electors and of the
elective members. Section 51 was particularly important as it provided for the dividing
off of parts of New South Wales to form new separate Colonies.
Under the 1842 Act the powers of the Legislative Council were increased. It was given
considerable, though not complete, control over local finance (a fixed Civil List being put
beyond its control). However, for the time being Great Britain retained control of colonial
lands, for these were regarded as a trust for posterity. This marked a significant
milestone for the local Legislature.
It became instead an independent body, with powers and procedure carefully
modelled on the English House of Commons. It met under its own Speaker no longer
in the presence of the Governor, and the fact that most of its members were elected
made it more sensitive to outside opinion, and better able to criticise the Governor's
policy. ... The. Council had, in fact, full power over legislation, taxation, and the
enforcement of justice within New South Wales, subject only to the definite
restrictions named in the Act.4
However, the Civil List, the system of local government embodied in the Act, and the
control of Crown lands, including funds derived from sales, remained unresolved and
contentious issues. "The Council met for the first time on August 1, 1843. As was to be
2
Shaw, A G L, The Story of Australia, (Faber, London, 1960), p.89
3
Wood, F L W, The Constitutional Development of Australia, (George G Harrap & Co Ltd, Sydney,
1933), pp.60-61
4
Ibid, p.111
16
State Records Authority of New South Wales