The second Parkes ministry was the sixteenth 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
Henry Parkes. It was the second of five occasions that Parkes was Leader of the Government.
Having served in the
New South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...
between 1854 and 1856, Parkes was elected in the first free elections for the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly held in
1856
Events
January–March
* January 8 – Borax deposits are discovered in large quantities by John Veatch in California.
* January 23 – American paddle steamer SS ''Pacific'' leaves Liverpool (England) for a transatlantic voyag ...
, however resigned from Parliament later that year. He served in the Assembly on several occasions, between 1858 and 1870, being forced to resign on at least on occasion due to his personal insolvency. He came to power as Premier on the first occasion in 1872, serving as Premier for a period of three years. However, Parkes lost the confidence of the Assembly following Governor
Robinson's decision to release of the
bushranger
Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under ...
Frank Gardiner led to the defeat of the ministry in 1875.
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) ...
served as Leader of the Government between 1875 and 1877, before Robertson's
supply bill
In the Westminster system (and, colloquially, in the United States), a money bill or supply bill is a bill that solely concerns taxation or government spending (also known as appropriation of money), as opposed to changes in public law.
Conv ...
was defeated in the Assembly and the Governor had refused to dissolve the parliament without supply. Parkes formed his second ministry in a challenging environment where both Parkes and Robertson shared equal representation in the Legislative Assembly and business was sometimes at a standstill.
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. Under the constitution, ministers were required to resign to re-contest their seats in a by-election when appointed.
Such ministerial by-elections were usually uncontested and on this occasion a poll was required for
The Hawkesbury (
William Piddington) and he was comfortably re-elected. The six other ministers,
Henry Parkes (
East Sydney),
Francis Suttor (
Bathurst),
Richard Driver (
Windsor),
James Hoskins (
The Tumut),
William Windeyer (
University of Sydney) and
George Lloyd (
Newcastle), were re-elected unopposed.
This ministry covers the period from 22 March 1877 until 16 August 1877, when Parkes was in turn unable to obtain supply and resigned when Robertson indicated that he was able to form a government.
Composition of ministry
Ministers are members of the
Legislative Assembly unless otherwise noted.
See also
*
*
References
{{Ministries of New South Wales
New South Wales ministries
1877 establishments in Australia
1877 disestablishments in Australia