All 60 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly
First party
Second party
Leader
William Haines
John O'Shanassy
Party
Conservative
Conservative
Leader's seat
South Grant
Kilmore
Seats won
11
25
Percentage
11.99
35.13
Premier before election
William Haines
Conservative)
Elected Premier
William Haines
Conservative
The 1856 Victorian colonial election was held from 23 September to 24 October 1856 to elect the first Parliament of Victoria. All 60 seats in 37 electorates in the Legislative Assembly were up for election, though eight seats were uncontested.[1] The eligibility to vote at the 1856 Victorian election was subject to a property qualification. The voting was carried out by secret ballot.[2][3]
There were 20 single-member, 14 two-member and one each of three-member, four-member and five-member electorates.[1]
The historian Henry Gyles Turner, writing in 1904, described the election in the following terms: "The voting was largely controlled by personal feeling and private influences, for there was no stirring party cry in the ascendant, and the quieting effect of the voting by secret ballot made strongly for orderliness in the proceedings".[4] William Haines formed the first ministry after the election, a continuation of his previous role in the Legislative Council, even though his government was potentially in the minority in the lower house.[5]
^ ab"The First Parliament Elected 23 September to 24 October 1856". Psephos: Adam Carr's Electoral Archive.
^The Coming Elections, Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer, 15 April 1856, page 2.
^The Electoral Act of 1856 (Victoria), Victorian Historical Acts, Austlii website; accessed 1 February 2024.
^Henry Gyles Turner (1904), page 63.
^Betty Malone (1972), William Clark Haines (1810–1866), Australian Dictionary of Biography website, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; accessed 30 December 2023.
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