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1967 New State referendum (New South Wales)

A referendum concerning the creation of a new State in north-eastern New South Wales was put to voters on 29 April 1967.

1967 New State referendum (New South Wales)
29 April 1967 (1967-04-29)
Are you in favour of the establishment of a new State in north-east New South Wales described in schedule 1 to the New State Referendum Act, 1966 ?
Results
Choice
 Votes %
Yes 168,103 45.82%
No 198,812 54.18%
Valid votes 366,915 94.54%
Invalid or blank votes 21,194 5.46%
Total votes 388,109 100.00%

Background

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These paragraphs are an excerpt from New England New State Movement § New state agitation.[edit]

The first separatist agitation occurred during colonial times at the time of the separation of Queensland from NSW. While this was followed by outbreaks of agitation, these remained sporadic. Well-organised 'Separation Leagues' existed at both Glen Innes and Grafton in the late 1880s,[1] but did not make progress.

This changed in the twentieth century. Agitation began again at Grafton towards the end of the First World War led by Earle Page, a local doctor and later a prominent politician, rising to caretaker Prime Minister of Australia. This was picked up a little later by Victor Thompson, editor of the Tamworth Northern Daily Leader who launched a sustained newspaper campaign that involved papers as far south as Cessnock in the lower Hunter. This led to the creation of a formal movement. In 1922 a formal request to the Commonwealth was made by the lower house to establish a new state in northern New South Wales.[2] One outcome was the 1924 Cohen Royal Commission into New States.

The Cohen Commission ruled against to the movement and it went into decline, resurging at the start of the Great Depression.[3] This forced another Royal Commission, the Nicholas Commission. While this recommended in favour,[4] the movement was again in decline as economic conditions improved.

Agitation started again at the end of the Second World War and this time was sustained by permanent staff. In 1953, 21 councils defied the state government and held unofficial referendum on the issue of a new state. The people voted overwhelmingly in favour of the referendum.[5] In 1961 the movement launched Operation Seventh State,[6] raising over AU£100,000. This allowed more staff and greater agitation.

This acceptance of boundaries determined by the Nicholas Commission proved to be the movement's critical strategic error. It assumed that a state was not viable unless it was dominated by a large urban population on the English/London model. Yet, the evidence from similar federations like Canada and the USA revealed numerous successful "farm states", like Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas, with comparatively small capital city populations tied to a single, essentially rural community of interest. This metrocentric mindset ensured that two quite distinct communities of interest were being pressured into a doomed arranged marriage. It was also the very antithesis of an "act of free choice" as that choice involved imposing a majority rural will over a geographically distinct urban community. A new state proposal based in most part on boundaries formed by those Local Councils with majorities that actually wanted the change would have acquired a critical momentum.

Premier Robert Askin and the Cabinet believed in 1966 that a secession referendum would win, so they had the upper Hunter Region and Newcastle included within the boundaries of the proposed new state before putting it to a vote.[5]

The question

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Are you in favour of the establishment of a new state in north-east New South Wales as described in Schedule One to the New State Referendum Act, 1966?[7]

The area included by the proposed new state consists of

    • The subdivisions of
    • Gunnedah, Merriwa and Spring Ridge in Burrendong
    • Baradine and Coonabarabran in Castlereagh

Results

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The referendum rejected the proposed new state.

Result [8]
Question Votes %
Are you in favour of a new state  
in north-east NSW? 		Yes   168,103 45.82
No 198,812 54.18
Total formal votes 388,109 94.54
Informal votes 21,194 5.46

Results by electoral district

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Results of 1967 New State referendum[9]
District Result Yes No Informal Yes No Turnout
Armidale   Yes 10,257 6,655 868 60.65% 39.35% 91.99%
Barwon   Yes 12,149 6,015 843 66.89% 33.11% 89.35%
Burrendong (part)   Yes 4,570 2,474 339 64.88% 35.12% 92.94%
Byron   Yes 13,205 6,533 1,072 66.90% 33.10% 93.22%
Castlereagh (part)   Yes 1,719 1,528 242 52.94% 47.06% 85.26%
Cessnock   No 4,627 14,299 1,362 24.45% 75.55% 94.26%
Clarence   Yes 13,239 6,698 873 66.40% 33.60% 93.69%
Gloucester   No 4,725 12,235 1,012 27.86% 72.14% 91.79%
Hamilton   No 5,305 13,945 1,303 27.56% 72.44% 92.18%
Kahibah   No 6,233 14,098 1,320 30.66% 69.34% 93.38%
Lake Macquarie   No 5,784 12,981 1,444 30.82% 69.18% 92.66%
Lismore   Yes 13,335 5,286 735 71.61% 28.39% 92.91%
Maitland   No 5,159 14,470 1,274 26.28% 73.72% 94.11%
Newcastle   No 5,343 14,167 1,142 27.39% 72.61% 91.17%
Oxley   No 8,297 10,609 1,229 43.89% 56.11% 92.28%
Raleigh   Yes 14,965 5,404 956 73.47% 26.53% 92.57%
Tamworth   Yes 10,138 7,407 842 57.78% 42.22% 93.67%
Tenterfield   Yes 11,220 4,657 591 70.67% 29.33% 92.18%
Upper Hunter   No 6,884 11,061 795 38.36% 61.64% 92.22%
Wallsend   No 5,423 13,575 1,485 28.55% 71.45% 93.87%
Waratah   No 5,526 14,715 1,467 27.30% 72.70% 93.13%
Total   No 168,103 198,812 21,194 45.82% 54.18% 92.59%

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "GLEN INNES SEPARATION LEAGUE". Glen Innes Examiner and General Advertiser. 3 May 1887. p. 2. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  2. ^ Totaro, Paola (28 July 2003). "History's lesson to the bush: if at first you don't secede, try, try again". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  3. ^ "New States Royal Commission". State Archives and Records. Government of New South Wales. 6 April 1925. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  4. ^ "Royal Commission of Inquiry Respecting Areas in the State of New South Wales Suitable for Self-government as States in the Commonwealth of Australia". State Archives and Records. Government of New South Wales. 2 January 1935. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Altered states". The Sydney Morning Herald. 25 January 2005.
  6. ^ "Advertising". Canberra Times. 10 June 1961. p. 18. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  7. ^ "New state referendum Act, 1966. (30)". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. 31 March 1967. p. 1027. Retrieved 26 October 2021 – via Trove.
  8. ^ "Referendum 29 April 1967". NSW Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 18 February 2011.
  9. ^ McDonell, J. M. (1967). New State Referendum Act 1966: Statistical Returns. Sydney: New South Wales Government Printer.
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