Electoral results for the district of Sydney City

Sydney City, an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, had two incarnations, from 1950 until 1971 and from 1988 until 1999.[1][2][3]

Election Member Party Member Party Member Party Member Party
1856   Henry Parkes None   James Wilshire None   Robert Campbell None   Charles Cowper None
Sep 1856 by
Dec 1856 by   William Dalley None
1858   Robert Tooth None   George Thornton None

Election results

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1858

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1858 New South Wales colonial election: Sydney City
15 January [4]
Candidate Votes %
George Thornton (elected 1) 3,666 21.4
Robert Tooth (elected 2) 2,411 14.1
Robert Campbell (re-elected 3) 2,158 12.6
Charles Cowper (re-elected 4) 2,099 12.2
William Dalley (defeated) 2,035 11.9
Frank Fowler 1,762 10.3
James Wilshire (defeated) 1,557 18.7
William Allen 1,474 8.6
Total formal votes 17,164 100.0
Informal votes 0 0.0
Turnout 17,164 39.7
Robert Tooth had unsuccessfully contested Sydney Hamlets.

December 1856 by-election

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1856 Sydney City by-election
Tuesday 30 December [5]
Candidate Votes %
William Dalley (elected) 1,998 57.2
John Fairfax 1,493 42.8
Total formal votes 3,491 100.0
Informal votes 0 0
Turnout 3,491 25.2
The by-election was caused by the resignation of Henry Parkes due to financial difficulties with his newspaper The Empire.[5]

September 1856 by-election

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1856 Sydney City by-election
Thursday 4 September [6]
Candidate Votes %
Charles Cowper (re-elected 1) 1,993 45.6
Robert Campbell (re-elected 2) 1,831 41.9
Thomas Duigan 542 12.4
Total formal votes 4,366 100.0
Informal votes 0 0.0
Turnout 2,183 15.7
Charles Cowper and Robert Campbell were appointed in the first Cowper ministry.[6]

1856

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1856 New South Wales colonial election: Sydney City[7][8]
Candidate Votes %
Charles Cowper (elected 1) 3,073 20.5
Henry Parkes (elected 2) 3,057 20.4
Robert Campbell (elected 3) 3,041 20.33
James Wilshire (elected 4) 2,901 19.4
John Plunkett 2,800 18.7
Thomas Duigan 89 0.6
Total formal votes 14,961 100.0
Informal votes 0 0.0
Turnout 6,007 43.3

Cowper, Parkes, Campbell and Wilshire had been endorsed as a group by a public meeting to be elected to the four vacancies.[9] Parkes, Campbell and Wilshire all represented City of Sydney in the Legislative Council while Cowper represented County of Durham. There were no political parties at the time and the combination of candidates, pejoratively referred to by Plunkett as "The Bunch", was controversial.[10] Plunket, who had been an appointed member of the Council, campaigned on the slogan "plump for Plunket",[11] a reference to the voting practice of voting for a single candidate rather than the four candidates an elector was entitled to vote for.[12]

After his defeat in this seat, Plunkett unsuccessfully contested North Eastern Boroughs, before being elected for both Argyle and Bathurst (County). Plunket chose to represent Argyle and resigned as member for Bathurst (County).

References

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  1. ^ Green, Antony. "Elections for the District of Sydney City". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  2. ^ "Part 5B alphabetical list of all electorates and Members since 1856" (PDF). NSW Parliamentary Record. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  3. ^ "Former Members". Members of Parliament. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  4. ^ Green, Antony. "1858 Sydney City". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  5. ^ a b Green, Antony. "Sydney City by-election 2 1856". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  6. ^ a b Green, Antony. "1856 Sydney City by-election". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  7. ^ Green, Antony. "1856 Sydney City". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  8. ^ "This city election". The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 March 1856. p. 4. Retrieved 30 September 2019 – via Trove.
  9. ^ "Public meeting: Representation of Sydney". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 January 1856. p. 2. Retrieved 30 September 2019 – via Trove.
  10. ^ "Our Sydney "Bunch" of oligarchs". Freeman's Journal. 16 February 1856. p. 2. Retrieved 30 September 2019 – via Trove.
  11. ^ "Representation of Sydney". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 January 1856. p. 5. Retrieved 30 September 2019 – via Trove.
  12. ^ Cochrane, Peter (1 January 2006). Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy. Melbourne Univ. Publishing. ISBN 9780522853315.