Robertson ministry (1885–1886)
Fifth New South Wales government ministry led by John Robertson
The fifth Robertson ministry was the 22nd ministry of the Colony of New South Wales, and was led by the Premier, Sir John Robertson. It was the fifth and final occasion that Robertson was Premier. Robertson was elected in the first free elections for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly held in March 1856.
The title of Premier was widely used to refer to the Leader of Government, but was not a formal position in the government until 1920. Instead the Premier was appointed to another portfolio, usually Colonial Secretary.
There was no party system in New South Wales politics until 1887. Under the constitution, ministers in the Legislative Assembly were required to resign to recontest their seats in a by-election when appointed. Such ministerial by-elections were usually uncontested and on this occasion all of the ministers were re-elected unopposed. Louis Heydon resigned on 4 February 1886 because he disagreed with the suggested property tax, and was not replaced as Minister of Justice.
This ministry covers the period from 22 December 1885 until 25 February 1886, when Robertson's government faltered due to the destablishing influence of his old foe, Sir Henry Parkes.
“Robertson ministry (1885–1886)” enters the record as fifth New South Wales government ministry led by John Robertson. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Robertson, ministry and Fifth can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 11, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7352139. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1856, 1920, 1887 and 1886.
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This entry incorporates text from “Robertson ministry (1885–1886)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.