The fourth Robertson ministry was the seventeenth ministry of the

Colony of New South Wales The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of New ...

, and was led by

Sir John Robertson John, Jon, or Jonathan Robertson may refer to: Politicians United Kingdom politicians * J. M. Robertson (John Mackinnon Robertson, 1856–1933), British journalist and Liberal MP for Tyneside 1906–1918 *John Robertson (Bothwell MP) (1867–1926) ...

. It was the fourth of five occasions that Robertson led the Government. Robertson was elected in the first free elections for the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

held in March 1856. The title of

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

was widely used to refer to the Leader of Government, but not enshrined in formal use until 1920. There was no party system in New South Wales politics until 1887. The 1874–75 election had resulted in a challenging environment. Robertson was the leader of the government until March 1877 when he was unable to obtain

supply Supply may refer to: *The amount of a resource that is available **Supply (economics), the amount of a product which is available to customers **Materiel, the goods and equipment for a military unit to fulfill its mission *Supply, as in confidenc ...

and resigned, replaced by

Henry Parkes Sir Henry Parkes, (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was a colonial Australian politician and longest non-consecutive Premier of the Colony of New South Wales, the present-day state of New South Wales in the Commonwealth of Australia. He has ...

. The Parkes government however only lasted until 16 August 1877, when Parkes was in turn unable to obtain supply and resigned to be replaced by Robertson. Under the constitution, ministers were required to resign to recontest their seats in a by-election when appointed. Such ministerial by-elections were usually uncontested however on this occasion a by-election was required for West Sydney (Sir John Robertson), East Sydney ( John Davies),

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

(

Edward Combes Edward Combes (6 September 1830 – 18 October 1895) was an engineer, pastoralist, politician and painter. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, and later the New South Wales Legislative Council. Combes entered the Gove ...

) and Central Cumberland (

John Lackey John Derran Lackey (born October 23, 1978) is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 2002 through 2017 for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals and Ch ...

and

William Long William Long may refer to: Politicians * William Long (fl.1388), MP for Barnstaple * William Long (died c.1426), MP and Mayor for Rye * William Long (mayor) (1781–1851), mayor of Columbus, Ohio * William Long (New South Wales politician) (183 ...

). Each minister was comfortably re-elected. Only

Thomas Garrett Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

( Camden) and

Ezekiel Baker Ezekiel Baker (17581836) was a master gunsmith from Whitechapel, London, who became known for his design of the Baker rifle in 1800. Baker was apprenticed to gunsmith Henry Nock and opened a gunshop of his own at 24 Whitechapel Road, London in 1 ...

( Goldfields South) were re-elected unopposed. Garrett had a disagreement with Robertson on the question of the Land Bill and resigned in October, however the resignation was not accepted until 19 November 1877. Garrett was succeeded by Baker, with

Archibald Jacob Archibald Hamilton Jacob (31 July 182928 May 1900) was a politician in the colony of New South Wales. He served nearly thirty years in the lower and upper houses of the colonial government, as both elected and appointed representative, gover ...

replacing Baker as

Secretary for Mines The position of Secretary for Mines is a now defunct office in the United Kingdom Government, associated with the Board of Trade. In 1929, the department took over responsibility for petroleum. In 1940, the department was divided with Geoffrey ...

. A by-election was required for The Lower Hunter, but Jacob was comfortably re-elected. This ministry covers the period from 17 August 1877 until 17 December 1877, when Robertson did not achieve a majority at the December 1877 election. Parkes did not obtain a majority either and the subsequent government was formed by

James Farnell James Squire Farnell (25 June 1825 – 21 August 1888) was an Australian politician and Premier of New South Wales. Farnell was a hard-working legislator who gave much study to the land question and also tried hard for some years to pass a bill ...

as a compromise Premier.

Composition of ministry

Ministers were members of the Legislative Assembly unless otherwise noted.

References

{{Ministries of New South Wales New South Wales ministries 1877 establishments in Australia 1877 disestablishments in Australia

Composition of ministry

See also

References