Minister for Railways (New South Wales)

The Minister for Railways was a ministry first established in 1916 in the nationalist ministry of William Holman and abolished in 1929. It was known as the Minister for Railways and State Industrial Enterprises in the Second Fuller ministry between 1922 and 1925.[1]

Minister for Railways of New South Wales
Minister for Railways lays the foundation stone for the Sydney Harbour Bridge
AppointerGovernor of New South Wales
PrecursorTreasurer
Formation15 November 1916
First holderRichard Ball
Final holderErnest Buttenshaw
Abolished16 April 1929

Role and responsibilities

The first public railway line in New South Wales was the Sydney–Parramatta Railway which opened on 26 September 1855.[2] Railways were operated by New South Wales Government Railways which was under the supervision of a single Commissioner for Railways until 1888, 3 commissioners until 1907,[3] before returning to a Chief Commissioner from 1907.[4] The Treasurer had ministerial responsibility for railways.[5]

The portfolio of Minister for Railways was created in the Holman Nationalist ministry and had operational responsibility for the railways while the Secretary for Public Works had responsibility for authorising expenditure on any new lines or extensions that exceeded £20,000. The separation however was only at a department level as the portfolio was always held by the Secretary for Public Works.[5]

In the second Fuller ministry the portfolio of Labour and Industry was divided up, with the Minister for Railways receiving the additional responsibilities for state industrial enterprises.[6] The portfolio returned to be the Minister for Railways from the first Lang ministry. On 16 April 1929 Ernest Buttenshaw, the Secretary for Public Works and Minister for Railways, became Acting Premier during the absence of Thomas Bavin and resigned the railways portfolio. The ministerial office was not filled and instead the railways department was administered by the Treasurer.[7]

The operation of railways remained the responsibility of the Treasurer in the third Lang ministry until 22 March 1932 when it became the responsibility of the Minister for Transport.[7]

List of ministers

TitleMinister [1]PartyMinistryTerm startTerm endTime in officeNotes
Minister for Railways Richard Ball   Nationalist Holman (2) 15 November 1919 12 April 1920 149 days
John Estell   Labor Storey
Dooley (1)		 12 April 1920 20 December 1921 1 year, 252 days
Sir Thomas Henley   Nationalist Fuller (1) 20 December 1921 a.m. 20 December 1921 p.m. 7 hours
John Estell   Labor Dooley (2) 20 December 1921 13 April 1922 114 days
Minister for Railways and
State Industrial Enterprises		 Sir Thomas Henley   Nationalist Fuller (2) 13 April 1922 19 June 1922 67 days
Richard Ball 28 June 1922 17 June 1925 2 years, 354 days
Minister for Railways Martin Flannery   Labor Lang (1) 17 June 1925 26 May 1927 1 year, 343 days
Bill Ratcliffe Lang (2) 27 May 1927 18 October 1927 144 days
Ernest Buttenshaw   Country Bavin 18 October 1927 16 April 1929 1 year, 180 days

References
  1. "Part 6 Ministries since 1856" (PDF). NSW Parliamentary Record. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  2. "History of Rail in Australia". Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Communications. Archived from the original on 12 February 2020.
  3. "AGY-1163 Railway Commissioners of New South Wales". NSW State Records & Archives. Retrieved 19 September 2021.  This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
  4. "AGY-11646 Chief Commissioner of Railways and Tramways". NSW State Records & Archives. Retrieved 19 September 2021.  This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
  5. "PFO-16 Railways [I]". NSW State Records & Archives. Retrieved 19 September 2021.  This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
  6. "PFO-17 Railways and State Industrial Enterprises". NSW State Records & Archives. Retrieved 19 September 2021.  This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
  7. "PFO-18 Railways [II]". NSW State Records & Archives. Retrieved 19 September 2021.  This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
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