Colonial elections were held in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...

on 9 March 1857. All 36 seats in the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was crea ...

, and all 18 seats in the Legislative Council were up for election. At the time of the election,

Boyle Travers Finniss Boyle Travers Finniss (18 August 1807 – 24 December 1893) was the first premier of South Australia, serving from 24 October 1856 to 20 August 1857. Early life Finniss was born at sea off the Cape of Good Hope, Southern Africa, and lived in ...

led a government which had been formed to administer the election, and to establish the first

responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive br ...

Pre-party Premiers

No parties or solid groupings would be formed until after the 1890 election, which resulted in frequent changes of the

Premier of South Australia The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier is ...

. If for any reason the incumbent Premier lost sufficient support through a successful

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

at any time on the

floor of the house A legislative chamber or house is a deliberative assembly within a legislature which generally meets and votes separately from the legislature's other chambers. Legislatures are usually unicameral, consisting of only one chamber, or bicam ...

, he would tender his resignation to the

Governor of South Australia The governor of South Australia is the representative in South Australia of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the governor-gen ...

, which would result in another member deemed to have the support of the House of Assembly being sworn in by the Governor as the next Premier. Informal groupings began and increased government stability occurred from the 1887 election. The United Labor Party would be formed in 1891, while the

National Defence League The National Defence League (NDL) was an independent conservative political party, founded in 1891 by MLC Richard Baker in South Australia as an immediate response to the perceived threat from Labor. Though renamed the Australasian National L ...

would be formed later in the same year. The first six Governors of South Australia oversaw governance from

proclamation A proclamation (Lat. ''proclamare'', to make public by announcement) is an official declaration issued by a person of authority to make certain announcements known. Proclamations are currently used within the governing framework of some nations ...

in 1836 until

self-government __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...

and an elected

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single gr ...

Parliament of South Australia The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the 47-seat House of Assembly ( lower house) and the 22-seat Legislative Council ( upper house). General elections ar ...

was enacted in the year prior to the inaugural 1857 election. The pre-1857

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

Legislative Council was partially represented from earlier

1851 Events January–March * January 11 – Hong Xiuquan officially begins the Taiping Rebellion. * January 15 – Christian Female College, modern-day Columbia College (Missouri), Columbia College, receives its charter from the ...

and 1855 elections.

References

History of South Australian elections 1857-2006, volume 1: ECSAStatistical Record of the Legislature 1836-2007: SA Parliament
{{South Australian elections Elections in South Australia 1857 elections in Australia 1850s in South Australia March 1857 events

Pre-party Premiers

See also

References