1860 South Australian colonial election

1860 South Australian colonial election

9 March – 3 April 1860

All 36 seats in the House of Assembly
2 (of the 18) seats in the Legislative Council
Registered17,681[a]
TurnoutN/A[b]
 
Leader Richard Hanson
Leader's seat City of Adelaide

Premier before election

Richard Hanson

Elected Premier

Richard Hanson

A colonial election was held between 9 March and 3 April 1860 to elect members to the 2nd Parliament of South Australia. All 36 seats in the House of Assembly (the lower house), and two of the 18 seats in the Legislative Council (the upper house, which had two casual vacancies to be filled) were up for re-election.

Since the 1857 election, four different premiers had led Parliament: Boyle Travers Finniss, John Baker, Robert Richard Torrens, and Richard Hanson.

The election used non-compulsory plurality block voting, in which electors voted for as many candidates as they wished. Members of the House of Assembly were elected to 17 multi-member districts; most districts had two members, with the exception of City of Adelaide (6 members), The Burra and Clare (3), Flinders (1), The Murray (1), and Victoria (1). Members of the Legislative Council were elected in a single 18-member district. Suffrage extended to men (including Aboriginals) over 21 years of age (who owned property worth at least £50, for the Legislative Council), unless they were "attainted or convicted of treason or felony".

No parties or solid groupings would be formed until after the 1890 election, which resulted in frequent changes of the Premier. If the incumbent Premier lost sufficient support through a successful motion of no confidence at any time, he would tender his resignation to the Governor, which would result in another member being elected and sworn in by the Governor as the next Premier.

Results

House of Assembly

House of Assembly (AV) – Turnout N/A (Non-CV)
Party Votes Seats
Votes % Swing (pp) Seats Change
  Independent 16,495 100.0 ±0.0 36
Total 16,495 100.0 36
Formal votes N/A[c]
Informal votes N/A[c]
Turnout N/A[b]
Enrolled voters 17,681[a]
Source: Electoral Commission of South Australia[1]

Legislative Council

Legislative Council (BV) – Turnout 17.5% (Non-CV)
Party Votes Seats
Votes % Swing (pp) Seats
won
Not
up
New
Total
Change
  Independent 4,047 100.0 ±0.0 2 16 18
Total 4,047 100.0 2 16 18
Formal votes 2,195 94.0 +7.6
Informal votes 141 6.0 –7.6
Turnout 2,336 17.5 –39.2
Enrolled voters 13,363
Source: Electoral Commission of South Australia[2]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Total enrolment across all electorates, including those uncontested, was 22,265.
  2. ^ a b Turnout was not published for Barossa and Mount Barker. In the other ten electorates, the turnout was 6,409 (43.7%).
  3. ^ a b Informal voting details were not published for Barossa, Mount Barker, and Port Adelaide. In the other nine electorates, the formal vote was 5,389 (92.2%) and the informal vote was 493 (8.4%).

References

  1. ^ Jaencsh, Dean (March 2007). "History of South Australian Elections, 1857–2006, House of Assembly, Volume 1" (PDF). pp. 31–33 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ Jaencsh, Dean (March 2007). "History of South Australian Elections, 1857–2006, Legislative Council, Volume 2" (PDF). p. 25 – via Internet Archive.