Forster ministry

The Forster ministry was the fifth ministry of the Colony of New South Wales, and was led by the Honourable 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 formed	27 October 1859 (1859-10-27)
Date dissolved	8 March 1860 (1860-03-08)
People and organisations
Head of state	Queen Victoria (represented by William Denison)
Head of government	William Forster
No. of ministers	6
Member party	unaligned
Status in legislature	Minority government
Opposition party	unaligned
Opposition leader	Charles Cowper John Robertson
History
Predecessor	Second Cowper ministry
Successor	First 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. These by-elections are only noted when the minister was defeated; in general, he was elected unopposed.

This ministry covers the period of just four months from 27 October 1859 until 8 March 1860, when Forster resigned his commission.[1][2]

Composition of ministry

Portfolio	Minister	Term start	Term end	Term length
Premier Colonial Secretary	Hon. William Forster MLA	27 October 1859	8 March 1860	133 days
Colonial Treasurer	Hon. Saul Samuel MLA
Secretary for Lands	Hon. John Black MLA
Secretary for Public Works Representative of the Government in Legislative Council	Hon. Geoffrey Eagar MLC
Attorney-General	Hon. Edward Wise MLA^a	27 October 1859	13 February 1860	109 days
	Hon. Sir William Manning MLA	21 February 1860	8 March 1860	16 days
Solicitor-General	Hon. John Hargrave MLA	3 November 1859		126 days

:^a Edward Wise resigned his commission in 1860 and was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

See also

• William Forster - fourth Premier of New South Wales
• Self-government in New South Wales
• Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, 1859–1860

References

1. Serle, Percival. "Forster, William (1818-1882)". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Project Gutenberg Australia. Retrieved 10 March 2007.
2. "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 2010-01-02.

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