Forster ministry

The Forster ministry was the fifth ministry of the Colony of New South Wales, and was led by William Forster. Forster was elected in the first free elections for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly held in March 1856. He was asked to form Government after the second Cowper ministry lost an educational bill in the Assembly.

Forster ministry
5th Cabinet of the Colony of New South Wales
Premier William Forster and the Colony of New South Wales (1856–1859)
Date formed27 October 1859 (1859-10-27)
Date dissolved8 March 1860 (1860-03-08)
People and organisations
Head of stateQueen Victoria (represented by William Denison)
Head of governmentWilliam Forster
No. of ministers6
Member partyunaligned
Status in legislatureMinority government
Opposition partyunaligned
Opposition leader
History
PredecessorSecond Cowper ministry
SuccessorFirst Robertson 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.[1] Such ministerial by-elections were usually uncontested and on this occasion William Forster (Queanbeyan) and Saul Samuel (Orange) were re-elected unopposed, while John Black was comfortably re-elected at the East Sydney by-election.[2]

This ministry covers the period of just four months from 27 October 1859 until 8 March 1860, when Forster resigned his commission.[3][4]

Composition of ministry
Portfolio Minister Term start Term end Term length
Premier
Colonial Secretary
 William Forster MLA 27 October 1859 8 March 1860 133 days
Colonial Treasurer Saul Samuel MLA
Secretary for Lands John Black MLA
Secretary for Public Works
Representative of the Government in the Legislative Council		 Geoffrey Eagar MLC
Attorney General Edward Wise MLC [lower-alpha 1] 27 October 1859 13 February 1860 109 days
Sir William Manning [lower-alpha 2] 21 February 1860 8 March 1860 16 days
Solicitor General John Hargrave MLC 3 November 1859 [lower-alpha 3] 126 days
  1. Edward Wise resigned his commission and from parliament in 1860 and was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court.
  2. Sir William Manning had previously been a member of the Legislative Assembly and was subsequently appointed to the Legislative Council, but was not a member of parliament at the time of this appointment.[5]
  3. John Hargrave had been Solicitor General since 21 February 1859 in the second Cowper ministry.

See also

References
  1. Twomey, Anne (2004). The Constitution of New South Wales. Federation Press. pp. 442. ISBN 9781862875166. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  2. Green, Antony. "1859 East Sydney by-election". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  3. Serle, Percival (1949). "Forster, William (1818–1882)". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  4. "Part 6 Ministries since 1856" (PDF). NSW Parliamentary Record. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  5. "Sir William Montagu Manning (1811–1895)". Former Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 15 December 2020.

 

Preceded by
Second Cowper ministry		 Forster ministry
1859–1860		 Succeeded by
First Robertson ministry
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