Guide 3 to NSW State Archives relating to Responsible Government - OCR - Flipbook - Page 243
A Guide to New South Wales State Archives relating to Responsible Government
The primary document in Volume G of this bundle in [18/1409.1],
which mainly contains papers dating from 1978 to 1983, is the
171 page The Reform of the Legislative Council in New South
Wales with a consideration of its implications for the effective
resolution of deadlocks in bicameral Parliaments by Philip Harvey,
a 1981 Bachelor thesis. Other papers include 1978 and 1983
copies of newspaper cuttings, including ones relating to the
referendum on the Legislative Council held on 17 June 1978; copy
of a flyer/ handout by the Armidale Branch of the National Country
Party on arguments for and against the proposed changes to the
Legislative Council being voted on in the Referendum; and further
reforms of the Legislative Council in 1983.
Parliament - Legislative Council - Abolition - Copies of
proceedings and judgments, 1960 (File 62/986)
This bundle relates to a Supreme Court in Equity case, No.690 of
1960, Clayton & ors (the plaintiffs) v Heffron & ors (the
defendants), and to the subsequent appeal to the High Court of
Australia. Hector Joseph Richard Clayton, MLC, and the Premier,
Robert James Heffron, MLA, were the two principles.
CGS 12061,
[18/1406
part-1407
part]
This was a suit where six Members of the Legislative Council and
two other plaintiffs sought relief by way of declaration of right and
injunction against the Ministers of the Crown and the Electoral
Commissioner in respect of a proposed submission to referendum
of a measure framed to bring about an alteration of the
constitution of the State by the abolition of the Legislative Council.
This measure, in the form of a Bill for an Act which was to bear
the short title Constitution Amendment (Legislative Council
Abolition) Act, 1960, was proposed to be submitted to the electors
by way of referendum. The judgment includes lengthy statements
of the relevant legislation bearing on the matter as well as a
history of constitutional provisions in New South Wales, and
details the events which preceded the institution of this action.
The judgment was against the plaintiffs.
Clayton and ors applied for special leave to appeal from the decree
made in the Supreme Court of New South Wales in its Equitable
Jurisdiction to the High Court of Australia (case No.33 of 1960,
Clayton and Heffron). The case was heard from 17 October 1960
and the judgment, dismissing the application for special leave to
appeal, delivered on 15 December 1960.
Included in [18/1406] are printed copies of the case in the
Supreme Court, 30 May-9 June 1960, and copies of the judgment
of 29 September 1960; copy of the High Court of Australia case
transcript of proceedings 17 October, and judgment 15 December
1960; and, some extracts of publications, such as the Legislative
Council section of Chapter II of the publication The Government of
the Australian States: The Government of New South Wales by R
S Parker.
A roneoed volume of transcripts of proceedings in the High Court
of Australia case Clayton and others and Heffron and others,
17 October-17 November 1960, with affidavit of Geoffrey
Vandeleur Davy, solicitor for the applicants Clayton and others,
13 October 1960, can be found in [18/1407].
240
State Records Authority of New South Wales
