1891 New South Wales colonial election
17 June 1891 – 3 July 1891
All 141 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
71 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader George Dibbs Sir Henry Parkes Steering Committee of 5 [lower-alpha 1]
Party Protectionist Free Trade Labor
Leader since 17 January 1889 1886 July 1891
Leader's seat Murrumbidgee St Leonards
Last election 66 seats 71 seats First election
Seats won 52 seats 44 seats 35 seats
Seat change Decrease14 Decrease27 Increase35
Percentage 36.50% 36.49% 20.62%
Swing Decrease14.87 Decrease12.14 Increase20.62
The map at the top shows the results for each seat. The map at the bottom shows the vote share for each seat.
Premier before election

Sir Henry Parkes
Free Trade

 Elected Premier

Sir Henry Parkes
Free Trade

The 1891 New South Wales colonial election was held in the then colony of New South Wales between 17 June to 3 July 1891. This election was for all of the 141 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and it was conducted in 35 single-member constituencies, 20 2-member constituencies, 10 3-member constituencies and nine 4-member constituencies, all with a first past the post system. Part 1 (section 10) of the Electoral Act of 1880 set the qualification for election on "every male subject of Her Majesty of the full age of twenty-one years and absolutely free being a natural born or naturalized subject".[1] Seven seats were uncontested. The previous parliament of New South Wales was dissolved on 6 June 1891 by the Governor, The Earl of Jersey, on the advice of the Premier, Sir Henry Parkes.

The election saw the first appearance of the Labor Party (then known as the Labour Electoral League of New South Wales), which won 35 seats, taking a significant number of votes and seats from both of the previous two major parties in the Assembly, and giving Labour the balance of power.[2] The main political parties in New South Wales, the Protectionist Party and the Free Trade Party both lost seats to Labour. Parkes held on as Premier until October 1891 when he again lost a vote in the Legislative Assembly, causing Parkes to resign as Premier and leader of the Free Trade Party.[3] George Dibbs (Protectionist) became Premier after he arranged for support for his government from Labour.[4]

Key dates

Date Event
6 June 1891 The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
15 to 24 June 1891 Nominations for candidates for the election closed.
17 June to 3 July 1891 Polling days.
14 July 1891 Opening of new Parliament.

Results

The Legislative Assembly after the election.

New South Wales colonial election, 3 July 1891 [5]
Legislative Assembly
<< 1889–1894 >>

Enrolled voters
Votes cast 180,449 Turnout 64.40 +4.87
Informal votes 3,680 Informal 2.00 +0.28
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes  % Swing Seats Change
  Protectionist 65,866 32.6 -18.8 52 −14
  Free Trade 65,850 32.6 −16.0 44 −27
  Labor 37,216 18.4 +18.4 35 +35
  Independent 21,595 10.7 +7.6 12 +8
  Ind. Free Trade 6,684 3.3 +3.3 4 +4
  Ind. Protectionist 3,627 1.8 +1.8 4 +4
  Independent Labor 759 0.4 +0.4 1 +1
  Independent 445 0.25 +0.25 1 +1
Total 202,042     141  
Popular vote
Protectionist
 
 32.60%
Free Trade
 
 32.60%
Labor
 
 18.42%
Independent
 
 10.69%
Ind. Free Trade
 
 3.31%
Ind. Protectionist
 
 1.80%
Ind. Labor
 
 0.38%
Independent
 
 0.22%
Parliamentary seats
Protectionist
 
 52
Free Trade
 
 44
Labor
 
 35
Independent
 
 12
Ind. Free Trade
 
 4
Ind. Protectionist
 
 4
Ind. Labor
 
 1
Independent
 
 1

Retiring members

This section is an excerpt from Candidates of the 1891 New South Wales colonial election § Retiring Members.[edit]

Protectionist

Free Trade

Independent

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The members of the Labour steering committee were George Black, Joseph Cook, Jack FitzGerald, Thomas Houghton and William Sharp.[lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3]
  2. "The Labor Caucus". The Evening News. 14 July 1891. p. 5. Retrieved 6 October 2021 – via Trove.
  3. "The Labour representatives in Parliament". The Sydney Morning Herald. 16 July 1891. p. 5. Retrieved 6 October 2021 – via Trove.

References

  1. ↑ Electoral Act of 1880, s.10
  2. ↑ So Monstrous a Travesty, Ross McMullen. Scribe Publications 2004. p.4.
  3. ↑ Martin, A W. "Parkes, Sir Henry (1815–96)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  4. ↑ Mansfield, Bruce E. "Dibbs, Sir George Richard (1834–1904)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  5. ↑ Green, Antony. "1891 election totals". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 19 September 2019.

Bibliography

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