Parkes ministry (1877)

Second Parkes ministry
16th cabinet of the Colony of New South Wales
Premier Henry Parkes and the Colony of New South Wales (1863–1900)
Date formed	22 March 1877
Date dissolved	16 August 1877
People and organisations
Head of government	Henry Parkes
Head of state	Queen Victoria (represented by Hercules Robinson)
Number of ministers	8
Member party	unaligned
Status in legislature	Minority government
Opposition party	unaligned
Opposition leader	John Robertson
History
Predecessor	Third Robertson ministry
Successor	Fourth Robertson ministry

The second Parkes ministry was the sixteenth ministry of the Colony of New South Wales, and was led by the Honourable Henry Parkes. It was the second of five occasions that Parkes was Leader of the Government.

Having served in the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1854 and 1856, Parkes was elected in the first free elections for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly held in 1856, however resigned from Parliament later that year. He served in the Assembly on several occasions, between 1858 and 1870, being forced to resign on at least on occasion due to his personal insolvency. He came to power as Premier on the first occasion in 1872, serving as Premier for a period of three years. However, Parkes lost the confidence of the Assembly following Governor Robinson's decision to release of the bushranger Frank Gardiner led to the defeat of the ministry in 1875.^[1]

John Robertson served as Leader of the Government between 1875 and 1877, before Robertson was defeated at the 1877 election. Parkes formed his second ministry in a challenging environment where both Parkes and Robertson shared equal representation in the Legislative Assembly and business was sometimes at a standstill.^[2]

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 22 March 1877 until 16 August 1877.^[3]

Composition of ministry

Portfolio	Minister	Term start	Term end	Term length
Premier Colonial Secretary	Hon. Henry Parkes MLA	22 March 1877	16 August 1877	147 days
Colonial Treasurer	Hon. William Piddington MLA
Minister for Justice and Public Instruction	Hon. Francis Suttor MLA
Secretary for Lands	Hon. Richard Driver MLA
Secretary for Public Works	Hon. James Hoskins MLA
Attorney-General	Hon. William Windeyer MLA^a
Secretary for Mines Representative of the Government in Legislative Council	Hon. George Lloyd MLA
Postmaster-General	Hon. Saul Samuel MLC

:^a A Member of the Government without a seat in the Executive Council.

See also

• Henry Parkes - seventh Premier of New South Wales
• Self-government in New South Wales
• Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, 1874–1877
• First Parkes ministry (1872–1875)
• Third Parkes ministry (1878–1883)
• Fourth Parkes ministry (1887–1889)
• Fifth Parkes ministry (1889–1891)

References

1. Martin, A. W. "Parkes, Sir Henry (1815–96)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 2007-04-06.
2. Serle, Percival. "Sir Henry Parkes (1816–1896)". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Project Gutenberg Australia. Retrieved 2007-03-29.
3. "Former Members - Chronological List of Ministries 1856 to 2009 (requires download)" (Excel spreadsheet). Project for the Sesquicentenary of Responsible Government in NSW. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 2011-03-14.