1891 New South Wales colonial election

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
	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

Protectionist

Free Trade

Independent

Adolphus Taylor MLA (West Sydney)
Cecil Teece MLA (Goulburn)

Notes

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]
"The Labor Caucus". The Evening News. 14 July 1891. p. 5. Retrieved 6 October 2021 – via Trove.
"The Labour representatives in Parliament". The Sydney Morning Herald. 16 July 1891. p. 5. Retrieved 6 October 2021 – via Trove.

References

Electoral Act of 1880, s.10
So Monstrous a Travesty, Ross McMullen. Scribe Publications 2004. p.4.
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.
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.
Green, Antony. "1891 election totals". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 19 September 2019.

Bibliography

"Former members of the New South Wales Parliament, 1856-2006". New South Wales Parliament.

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[Committee-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]

[7] "The Labor Caucus". The Evening News. 14 July 1891. p. 5. Retrieved 6 October 2021 – via Trove.

[8] "The Labour representatives in Parliament". The Sydney Morning Herald. 16 July 1891. p. 5. Retrieved 6 October 2021 – via Trove.

[2] Electoral Act of 1880, s.10

[3] So Monstrous a Travesty, Ross McMullen. Scribe Publications 2004. p.4.

[Parkes_ADB-4] 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.

[Dibbs_ADB-5] 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.

[Green_1891-6] Green, Antony. "1891 election totals". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 19 September 2019.