Farnell ministry

The Farnell ministry was the eighteenth ministry of the Colony of New South Wales, and was led by the Honourable James Farnell. Farnell was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1860.

Farnell ministry
18th Cabinet of the Colony of New South Wales
Premier James Farnell and the Colony of New South Wales (1863–1900)
Date formed	18 December 1877
Date dissolved	20 December 1878
People and organisations
Head of state	Queen Victoria (represented by Hercules Robinson)
Head of government	James Farnell
No. of ministers	9
Member party	unaligned
Status in legislature	Minority government
Opposition party	unaligned
Opposition leader	Henry Parkes
History
Predecessor	Fourth Robertson ministry
Successor	Third Parkes ministry

The title of Premier 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. These by-elections are only noted when the minister was defeated; in general, he was elected unopposed.

This ministry covers the period from 18 December 1877 until 20 December 1878, when Farnell resigned following his inability to gain safe passage of a land bill through Parliament. Henry Parkes succeeded Farnell as Leader of the Government.[1][2][3]

Composition of ministry

Portfolio	Minister	Term start	Term end	Term length
Premier Secretary for Lands	Hon. James Farnell MLA	18 December 1877	20 December 1878	367 days
Colonial Secretary	Hon. Michael Fitzpatrick MLA
Colonial Treasurer	Hon. Henry Cohen MLA
Minister for Justice and Public Instruction	Hon. Joseph Leary MLA
Secretary for Public Works	Hon. John Sutherland MLA
Attorney-General	Hon. William Foster MLA
Secretary for Mines	Hon. William Suttor Jr. MLA
Postmaster-General	Hon. John Burns MLA
Vice-President of the Executive Council Representative of the Government in Legislative Council	Hon. John Marks MLC

See also

• James Farnell - eighth Premier of New South Wales
• Self-government in New South Wales
• Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, 1877–1880

References

1. Serle, Percival. "Mr James Squire Farnell (1827–1888)". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Project Gutenberg Australia. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
2. Goodin, V. W. E. "Farnell, James Squire (1825–1888)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
3. "Former Members - Chronological List of Ministries 1856 to 2009 (requires download)". Project for the Sesquicentenary of Responsible Government in NSW. Parliament of New South Wales. Archived from the original (Excel spreadsheet) on 15 March 2011. Retrieved 20 March 2011.