Colonial rule, with a Governor representing the British Crown, was the first form of government following European settlement. Gradually this was modified to include Advisory Councils under different names. This was still restricted to a limited population based on perceived status. This gradually changed as the composition of the population changed. Efforts were made for a wider level of both enfranchisement and control. It was not, however, until the second half of the 19^th century that some level of genuine self-government came into existence. This still did not include groups such as women and Indigenous people.

This page looks at the development of self-government in each of the States and includes documentary evidence where possible.

The Second Page looks at topics A to Z including areas as varied as Chartist and Benthamite Influences, Indigenous Franchise, Women’s Franchise and a variety of resources including cartoons and units of work.

There are journals, databases, primary documents and specific reference material where these are seen to be relevant.

Information is aimed at undergraduate level. Some information may be useful at a higher level.

Be aware some units/topics have different titles at different universities, even though content may be the same or similar. Australian information is supplied wherever possible.

If you are aware of any worthwhile information which is not included, suggestions for additions are welcomed.

State Information

New South Wales

• Colonial Ambition : Foundations of Australian Democracy
  Review article, Highbeam Research, on the book of the same name, which covered the people and events leading up to the first Legislative Council.
• Democracy in NSW Timeline
  ‘Visit the links [below] to the NSW Parliament’s Time-line of Democracy in NSW’.

• 1788 to 1810 - Early European Settlement of NSW
• 1810 to 1821 - Governor Lachlan Macquarie
• 1822-1842 The First Legislature
• 1843-55 Towards Responsible Government
• 1856-89 Responsible Government and Colonial Development
• 1901-18 The Early Federal Period and WWI
  For information regarding women and indigenous people and their rights to vote and/or enter parliament.

• Democratic Growth In New South Wales
  General information, summary table, details on changes to Parliament House.
• First Council History
  ‘History of the first Legislative Council of NSW’.
• History of Women in the NSW Parliament
  Winning the vote, representation, leadership.
• List of Acts of the First Legislative Council of New South Wales
  Provides an idea of the areas into which members had gained input during this period.
• Records of Legislative Proceedings from 1824
  Votes and Proceedings by years from 1824, Reports of Parliamentary Debates - which were the reports in the Sydney Morning Herald and were the early versions that preceded Hansard.
• Women in Parliament
  ‘Throughout most of the nineteenth century women usually had less social, legal and economic rights before the law than men. Around 1887, led by Elizabeth Ward and others, departments within the Women’s Christian Temperance League in NSW began to work actively for votes for women. Their voice was stridently added to in 1888 when Louisa Lawson began publishing The Dawn newspaper which for the next 17 years focussed on issues of justice for women’.

Documentary Evidence

• Colonial Secretary’s Correspondence
  ‘One of the most valuable sources of information on all aspects of the history of the Colony and the State of New South Wales’ including those related to government, franchise and suffrage. Read the Introduction to find how to gain the most from this body of work.
• New South Wales Act 1823 [UK]
  ‘Passed in response to growing criticism in the colony of New South Wales of the lack of a proper superior court as well the lack of a proper responsible government’. Part of the act led to the creation of the first Legislative Council. A transcript is available here and views of the original document can be seen here.
• New South Wales Constitution Act 1855 [UK]
  ‘This British Act confers a Constitution on the Colony of New South Wales and establishes the first basic and lasting institutions of parliamentary democracy in Australia’. Download a transcript here and/or view the original pages.

Queensland

• Abolition of the Upper House
  The first parliament, members, conflicts between the Council and the Assembly, information about the Council’s later removal and why. A second paper called Abolition of the Legislative Council can be found here while information on the Constitution Act Amendment Act 1922 [Qld] is found here.
• Parliament@Work
  Education material on parliament and government in Queensland. How It All Started and Chartist Checkbox sections may be most relevant.
• Queensland Electoral History
  Electoral Commission of Queensland. A timeline of the major events.
• Queensland Women’s Struggle for the Vote
  Presentation for the centenary of women’s suffrage in Queensland. A Chronology that begins in 1837 can be found here.

Documentary Evidence

• Constitution Act 1867 [Qld]
  ‘The New South Wales Constitution Act 1855 provided the legal framework to establish representative government in Queensland from the time the new Colony was created in 1859. With this new Act, the Queensland legislature adopted its own Constitution’. Download a transcript here and view the original pages.

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South Australia

• Aboriginal South Australians and Parliament
  Information, including the fact they were eligible as early as 1857 [male] and 1894 [female].
• Democracy and Human Rights
  Part of the Timeline for South Australian Firsts. Information on suffrage.
• Establishing Representative Government
  The first government, government in the colonial era, self-government in 1857, birth of democratic ideas.
• Payment of Members
• Statistical Record of the Legislature 1836 to 2007
• The Politics of Democracy in South Australia
  ‘One hundred and fifty delegates came together to hear 25 papers reflect on the past, present and future of South Australia’s democracy’. Listen to speeches, download files of particular talks. Several on the early years.

Documentary Evidence

• Constitution Act 1856 [SA]
  ‘Established self-government in the Province with what was the most advanced democratic constitution in the world at that time. The Constitution Bill passed by the South Australian Parliament was the first Constitution in the Australian colonies to provide manhood suffrage’. Download a transcript here and view the original cover page.
• Constitution [Female Suffrage] Act 1895 [SA]
  ‘South Australian women won the vote in 1895, not 1894 as usually stated. They were second to gain the vote, after New Zealand women in 1893, and the first in the world to gain the right to stand for election’. Download a transcript here and view the original pages.
• South Australia Act 1842 [UK]
  ‘The original of the second South Australia Act. Assented to on 3 July 1842, it repealed the Act of 1834 and gave all powers to the Governor and a Legislative Council of at least seven members nominated by the Crown, subject to the Colonial Secretary’. Download a transcript here and view the original pages.

Tasmania

• Constitutional Events
  Major constitutional events in Tasmania, giving date and description of each.
• Female Franchise
  ‘Tasmanian women became eligible to vote in House of Assembly elections in 1904 following a change to the eligibility criteria from man to person in the Constitution Act 1903. Although this allowed women to vote they were still not eligible to stand for election’. Timeline, details, Female Firsts.
• The Parliament of Tasmania - A Chronology
  Major parliamentary events [and others] from 1825. Includes major representational changes.
• The Parliament of Tasmania from 1856
  Multiple sections cover both houses, information on the earlier period.

Documentary Evidence

• Constitution Act 1855 [Tas]
  ‘The Act provided for the creation of The Parliament of Van Diemen’s Land, to be the supreme lawmaking institution in the Colony. The limits to the Parliament’s powers were defined by each arm of the British government : the executive bounds set by the exercise of the Royal Prerogative by Orders-in-Council and colonial governors; legislative bounds delimited by the British Parliament, and judicial bounds delimited by the hierarchy of courts of law whose apex was the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The new Parliament was to consist of two Houses’. Download a transcript here and view the original pages.
• Order-in-Council separating Van Diemen’s Land from New South Wales 14 June 1825 [UK]
  ‘Established Van Diemen’s Land as a separate Colony independent of New South Wales as provided for in the New South Wales Act 1823, and also authorised the establishment of a separate Legislative Council for Van Diemen’s Land’. Download a transcript here.

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Victoria

• Ballarat Reform League
  Originally linked to the gold diggings. Suffrage and Chartist demands were part of their manifesto.
• My Government
  A range of topics for the development of self-government, including the following.

• Historical Overview
  ‘Victoria has had a Parliament since 1856, responsible government since 1855, and been self-governing since 1851. From 1836 to 1851 the region was a district of New South Wales administered from Sydney. It became a colony in 1851 and a State in 1901. What does it all mean ? In the answer lies the emergence of parliamentary democracy in Victoria’. Timeline of events.
• Victorian Premiers and Governments since 1855
• Women in Parliament
  Female enfranchisement, representation, women in parliament from earliest times.

Documentary Evidence

• Electoral Act 1856 [Vic]
  ‘Made Victoria the first Australian Colony [and the first legislature anywhere in the world] to adopt the practice of the secret ballot. The introduction of secret ballot was one of the measures whereby Victorians democratised their Parliament. The measures that followed were manhood suffrage [1857], abolition of property qualifications for members of the Legislative Assembly [1857], elections every three years [1859], and the Payment of Members Act [1870, see below]’. Download a transcript here and view the original pages.
• Payment of Members Act 1870 [Vic]
  ‘Payment of Members of Parliament was one of the demands of the Chartists, the popular British reform movement of the 1840s which influenced democratic reform in the Australian colonies’. Download a transcript here and view the original pages.
• Victoria Constitution Act 1855 [UK]
  ‘The decision by the British Government that the colonies should proceed to responsible self-government reached Victoria in 1853. The Legislative Council formed a sub-committee to draft a Constitution which was considered by the Council in early 1854. The draft Constitution established the bi-cameral parliament, with property qualifications for voters and members set at higher levels for the Upper House of the Parliament’. Download a transcript here and view the original pages.

Western Australia

• A Vote of Her Own
  ‘Exhibition developed in 1999 to commemorate the Centenary of Women’s Suffrage. Supported by extensive Teacher Notes. Primary and Secondary students’.
• Launching the Ship of State
  A Constitutional History of Western Australia. Of most use would be the following sections.

• A Chronology Of Constitutional Change
  Appendix 2.
• Early Government
  The Governor and the Legislative Council.
• Franchise
  Electoral opportunity and political power.
• Representative Government
  The first elections.
• The Goldrush
  ‘Gold and Political Reform’.
• The Move for Self-Government
  Popular politics and reform.

Proclamation Day

‘Proclamation Day 21 October 1890 marked Western Australia being granted responsible self-government’. Changes which occurred leading up to this day.

• Proclamation Day
  Information from the Constitutional Centre of WA. Movement toward responsible government, who could vote, Prominent Players.
• Proclamation Day, 21 October 1890
  ‘Although it was only a first key step towards democracy, in Western Australia it meant that more people had a say in how they were governed and more people had the right to vote [though initially only wealthy male landowners]’.

• Widening Circles
  Political Powers from Colonisation. Major changes to the governmental process in Western Australia.

Documentary Evidence

• Constitution Act 1890 [UK]
  ‘The passage of this Enabling Act represented transition from rule by the Governor with the assistance of an appointed Legislative Council, to a representative democracy. The Legislative Council consisted only of officials until 1838, then nominated non-official members and officials until 1870 and from 1870 to 1890 developed into a system of representative government with a Legislative Council with two-thirds of its members elected by voters subject to a propertied franchise’. Download a transcript here and view the original pages.
• Constitution Acts Amendment Act 1899 [WA]
  ‘This Act incorporated into a single piece of legislation numerous amendments to the 1889 Constitution, including the provision of suffrage for women. This made Western Australia only the second Colony in Australia [after South Australia in 1894] to grant women the vote’. Download a transcript here and view the original pages.
• Despatch No. 2 re Legal and Judicial Subjects 28 April 1831 [UK]
  ‘The inclusions to this document provided the authority for James Stirling to appoint a Legislative Council, the members of which would also comprise his Executive Council. The inclusions were his Commission as Governor, the Order-in-Council of 1 November 1830 relating to the Legislative Council and Instructions including the appointment of the Legislative and Executive Councillors’. Download a transcript here and view the original pages.
• Governors & Premiers
  ‘Click the links below to find out about Western Australia’s past and present Governors and Premiers. Select Interesting Facts to answer questions such as : Who was the first Governor to own a motor vehicle ?’.
• Our Constitution
  ‘An explanation of the chronological development of political change in Western Australia from British Settlement in 1829 until today. It is an historic account of how our political and constitutional system came about. It looks at the factors that influenced the development of the Western Australian Constitution’. Covers influences and groups including Aboriginals, convicts, women, the Gold Rushes, rapid growth and even has links to Federation.

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