Guide 3 to NSW State Archives relating to Responsible Government - OCR - Flipbook - Page 32
A Guide to New South Wales State Archives relating to Responsible Government
Elections
The first General Election for members of the Legislative Council held in the Colony of
New South Wales took place in the various Electoral Districts between 15 June and 3 July
1843, with the writs of election returnable between 24 June and 8 July.
Imperial Act 5 & 6 Vic c.76, An Act for the Government of New South Wales and Van
Diemen's Land, assented to on 30 July 1842 but which took effect in New South Wales
from 5 January 1843, marked the beginning of representative government in New South
Wales. In contrast with the preceding two decades where all members of the Legislative
Council were appointed, this Act established a Legislative Council consisting of 36
members, 12 of whom were still to be appointed by the Governor but the other 24 to be
"elected by the Inhabitants of the said Colony".
The 5th-7th sections of the Act set out the qualifications of electors. To be an elector a
person had to be a male over the full age of 21, and a natural-born subject of the Queen
or naturalized or holding Letters of Denization. The franchise was further limited by a
property qualification to only those men who owned freehold property with a clear value
of least £200 or who were householders occupying a dwelling house with the clear
annual value of least £20. However, the right to vote was not limited to the place of
residence; an elector who fulfilled the property qualifications in the district for which the
vote was to be given could vote as long as the estate or occupancy, by reason of which
he was qualified to vote, was in his possession for at least six calendar months before
the date of the writ of the election or before the last registration of electors in the
district.
The machinery for holding the elections — the division of the Colony into electoral
districts, preparation of electoral rolls, appointment of officers to conduct elections, and
all matter "for ensuring the orderly, effective, and impartial conduct" of elections — was
to be determined by the Legislative Council which did so by 6 Vic No.16, An Act to
provide for the division of the Colony of New South Wales into Electoral Districts, and for
the Election of members to serve in the Legislative Council (passed on 23 February
1843). However, overriding stipulations were those imposed by the 1842 Act which
required that, for electoral purposes, the District of Port Phillip and the Towns of Sydney
and Melbourne should be Electoral Districts, with the Port Phillip District returning at
least five members, the Town of Sydney two members and the Town of Melbourne one
member.
In the following year there was some agitation concerning the limitations on the elective
franchise. Consequently, on 8 and 11 October 1844 the Legislative Council adopted a
Resolution "That it is the opinion of this Council that the Elective Franchise ought to be
extended to all Leaseholders occupying land of not less than £20 of Annual Value, and
holding Leases of five years or upwards, on condition of actual residence thereon for a
period of at least six months previously to the last registration of Electors in the District".
This was to be transmitted by the Governor to the Secretary of State with a
recommendation that the principle it contained was embodied in any legislation passed
by the Imperial Parliament amending the Act 5 & 6 Vic c.76.
The Imperial Australian Colonies Government Act of 1850, which took effect in New
South Wales on 13 January 1851, while retaining the same basis qualifications for
electors, substantially reduced the property qualifications for the freehold estate to £100,
and the annual value of the occupied dwelling house to £10. The franchise was also
extended to those holding a leasehold estate with an annual value of at least £10, or a
pastoral lease. The Act in Council The Electoral Act of 1851, assented to on 2 May 1851,
reiterated the franchise qualifications set out in the Australian Colonies Government Act,
as well as setting up new electoral machinery, including dividing the Colony of New
South Wales into 31 Electoral Districts.
State Records Authority of New South Wales
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