The first Cowper ministry was the second ministry of the

Colony of New South Wales The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of New ...

, and was led by

Charles Cowper Sir Charles Cowper (), (26 April 1807 – 19 October 1875) was an Australian politician and the Premier of New South Wales on five occasions from 1856 to 1870. Cowper did useful work but does not rank among the more distinguished Australian ...

. It was the first of five occasions that Cowper was Leader of the Government. Cowper was elected in the first free elections for the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

held in March 1856, and fought unsuccessfully with

Stuart Donaldson Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson (16 December 1812 – 11 January 1867) was the first Premier of the Colony of New South Wales. Early life Donaldson was born in London, England. He entered his father's firm at the age of 15 and was sent first t ...

to form Government. When Donaldson's Government faltered a little over two months after it was formed, Cowper formed Government. The title of

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

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. Charles Cowper and Robert Campbell were comfortably re-elected in the by election for Sydney City. James Martin ( Cook and Westmoreland) and Terence Murray ( Southern Boroughs) were re-elected unopposed. This ministry covers the period from 26 August 1856 until on 2 October 1856, when Cowper resigned his commission, having lost the confidence of the Assembly.

Composition of ministry

Ministers are members of the Legislative Assembly unless otherwise noted.

References

{{Ministries of New South Wales New South Wales ministries 1856 establishments in Australia 1856 disestablishments in Australia

Composition of ministry

See also

References