Guide 3 to NSW State Archives relating to Responsible Government - OCR - Flipbook - Page 97
A Guide to New South Wales State Archives relating to Responsible Government
Following the separation of the Colony of Queensland in December 1859, the number of
members of the Legislative Assembly dropped to 72.
Between the 1858 electoral legislation and the next major revision of electoral law in
1893, two significant Acts were passed relating to the Parliament. The first was 37 Vic
No.7, the Triennial Parliaments Act of 1874, which reduced the duration of Parliament to
three years from the five years established under the Constitution Act of 1855; the
second, 53 Vic No.12, the Parliamentary Representatives Allowance Act, assented to on
24 September 1889, which provided for the payment of an annual allowance to Members
of the Legislative Assembly as a reimbursement of expenses incurred in the discharge of
their Parliamentary duties. £300 per annum was the sum stipulated in the Act.
44 Vic No.13, the Electoral Act of 1880, which repealed the 1858 legislation while
retaining most of its principal provisions, abolished the University and Gold Fields
electorates while, at the same time, increasing the number of members from 72 to 108.
It also set up a system for the automatic increase in seats as the number of electors in
an electorate increased. By the time the latter was repealed in the 1893 electoral
legislation the number of members in the Legislative Assembly had risen to 141.
The Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act of 1893 was a significant reform of the
electoral machinery as its long title demonstrates: "An Act for the redistribution of New
South Wales into Electoral Districts and for the subdivision of such Districts; for
remodelling the franchise, and the law applicable to Elections to the Legislative
Assembly; for determining the number of Members to serve in the Legislative Assembly;
for the periodical adjustment of Electoral Districts; and for other purposes in furtherance
of, or consequent on, the aforesaid objects".
The property qualifications for male voters were eliminated, and the franchise was placed
on its present basis, each elector being entitled to vote in one electorate only cone man,
one vote'). Other important features of this legislation were: electors had to be resident
in New South Wales for a continuous period of one year; the six months residence
requirement was reduced to three months; voters were required to produce an Elector's
Right which established that they were duly enrolled; and polling hours were extended.
The Act also established simultaneous elections (ie polling on the same day) throughout
the State, a significant departure from the previous polling in the various electorates
extended over a number of weeks.
One of its major innovations, was the establishment of independent Electoral Districts
Commissioners for the redistribution of seats and the adjustment of the boundaries of
Electoral Districts, to be appointed by the Governor by "Commission under the Great
Seal" whenever it would become necessary. The distribution of Electoral Districts was to
be made on the basis of a prescribed quota, a margin of allowance of 600 electors, with
the electorates being as equal as possible. The Act divided the State into 125 electoral
districts, each returning one Member.
Administratively, the Colonial Secretary was given responsibility for the administration of
the Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act, 1893; a Chief Electoral Officer was
appointed on 18 August 1893 and Electoral Registrars on 22 December 1893 to
administer the electoral rolls. Generally the Under Secretary of the Colonial Secretary's
Office/Department, or its later manifestation the Chief Secretary's Department, served as
the ex officio Chief Electoral Officer.
By a special Act passed in 1896 the Police were allowed the privilege of voting. The next
major change in the electoral process was the extension of the vote to women.
It was not until the 20th century that the vote was given to women. South Australia had
been the first Australian colony to grant women the vote, in 1894; Western Australia
followed in 1899, and the Commonwealth of Australia did so by its Commonwealth
Franchise Act of 1902. It was not until the Royal assent to the New South Wales
State Records Authority of New South Wales
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