Guide 3 to NSW State Archives relating to Responsible Government - OCR - Flipbook - Page 128
A Guide to New South Wales State Archives relating to Responsible Government
Separate Despatch of 14 December 1861: The Secretary of State
acknowledging the Governor's Separate Despatch of 23 September
1861 in which the Governor explained and justified the course
taken by him in May 1861 when in reference to the desire of his
Ministers he "endeavoured (to use a well known phrase) to
'swamp' the Legislative Council for the purpose of securing the
passing of the Land Bills through that body before it should cease
to exist". The Duke of Newcastle admitted the embarrassment and
perplexity of the situation in which the Governor found himself on
10 May as well as the value of the service rendered to the Colony
in securing the appointment to the new Legislative Council of so
many gentlemen of "good property, high character and political
experience".
Separate of
14 December
1861
The Governor has made an extensive annotation on the latter
Despatch dated 23 December 1867:
... The swamping was not an agreeable matter at the time and
very alien to my feelings ... It was really a conservative
measure and saved the Upper House - Had it not been for the
swamping I could never have procured so good an Upper House
as now exists ....
Separation of Moreton Bay
Colony
From District to
The separation of the Northern Districts had been foreshadowed by the English
authorities, including in the Australian Colonies Government Act of 1850, section 34 of
which provided that upon petition of the inhabitants, territories lying north of the
thirtieth degree of South Latitude could be detached from New South Wales. Sections 6
and 7 of the Imperial Constitution Statute of 1855 preserved the power previously
granted Her Majesty to alter the northern boundary of New South Wales, and authorised
the Queen to separate from New South Wales "such portions of its Northern territories as
may appear to require the establishment of an independent Government".18 It is further
enacted that the Queen could make provision, by letters patent or by Order in Council,
for the government of any such new colony, and for the establishment of a legislature, in
a manner as nearly resembling the form of government and legislature established in
New South Wales as the circumstances of the new colony would permit.
Since the early 1850s separation had been the subject of numerous petitions from the
inhabitants of the Moreton Bay District as well as other northern districts. At the time the
new bi-cameral Parliament was being established, separation of the Moreton Bay District
from New South Wales was one of the many issues confronting it. Secretary of State
Despatch No.18 of 4 February 1856, received in early May 1856, confirmed that the
Imperial Government would not pursue the separation of the Moreton Bay District from
New South Wales at that time because of the decided views expressed by the Governor
in his October 1855 despatch. However, only a few months later, in Despatch No.90 of
21 July 1856, the Secretary of State informed the Governor that it had been decided that
the time had arrived when the separation of the Northern Districts of the Colony of New
South Wales and their erection into a distinct Colony would be desirable. Labouchere also
defined the issues — the boundary between the two future provinces, the future
Government of the separated portion, and the division of the debt of the province —
which needed to be addressed before this took place.
18
Russell to Denison, Despatch No.51 of 20 July 1855, in SRNSW: NRS 4512, [4/1343]
126
State Records Authority of New South Wales
