The fourth Cowper ministry was the ninth 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 fourth occasion of being led by

Charles Cowper Sir Charles Cowper (), (26 April 1807 – 19 October 1875) was an Australian politician and the Premier of New South Wales on five occasions from 1856 to 1870. Cowper did useful work but does not rank among the more distinguished Australian ...

. Cowper 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 House ...

held in March 1856, and fought unsuccessfully with

Stuart Donaldson Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson (16 December 1812 – 11 January 1867) was the first Premier of the Colony of New South Wales. Early life Donaldson was born in London, England. He entered his father's firm at the age of 15 and was sent first t ...

to form Government. When Donaldson's Government faltered a little over two months after it was formed, Cowper formed Government on the first occasion, but he also lost the confidence of the Assembly a few months later. Cowper formed Government on the second occasion between 1857 and 1859; but it also lost the confidence of the Assembly. On the third occasion, Cowper formed Government following the decision by Premier John Robertson to step aside and focus on land reform, however Cowper then lost the confidence to James Martin. Cowper retained government by defeating Martin at the 1864–65 general election. 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 govern ...

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 recontest their seats in a by-election when appointed. Such ministerial by-elections were usually uncontested however on this occasion a poll was required in East Sydney (

The Glebe The Glebe is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located just south of Downtown Ottawa in the Capital Ward. As of 2016, the neighbourhood had a population of 13,055. The Glebe is bounded on the north by the Queensway, on the e ...

( Thomas Smart) and West Sydney (

John Darvall Sir John Bayley Darvall (19 November 1809 – 28 December 1883) was an Australian barrister and politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1844 and 1856 and again between 1861 and 1863. He was also a member o ...

and John Robertson). Each minister was comfortably re-elected. Only The Paterson ( William Arnold) was uncontested. This ministry covers the period from 3 February 1865 until 21 January 1866, when Martin was asked to form government after Cowper again lost the confidence of the Assembly in December 1865.

Composition of ministry

Ministers are members of the Legislative Assembly unless otherwise noted.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowper ministry (1865-1866) New South Wales ministries 1865 establishments in Australia 1866 disestablishments in Australia

Composition of ministry

See also

References