December 1870 West Sydney colonial by-election

A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of West Sydney on 30 December 1870 because John Robertson was appointed Colonial Secretary and William Windeyer was appointed Solicitor General in the third Martin ministry.^[1][2] Such ministerial by-elections were usually uncontested and the other ministers were all re-elected unopposed.^[3]

Dates

Date	Event
16 December 1870	Third Martin ministry appointed.[4]
17 December 1870	Writ of election issued by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.[5]
28 December 1870	Nominations
30 December 1870	Polling day
24 January 1871	Return of writ

Result

1870 West Sydney by-election
Friday, 30 December ^[6]

Candidate		Votes	%
John Robertson (re-elected 1)		2,536	38.7
William Windeyer (re-elected 2)		2,393	36.6
Joseph O'Connor		1,617	24.7
Total formal votes		6,546	100.0
Informal votes		0	0.0
Turnout		3,214	34.8

See also

• Electoral results for the district of West Sydney
• List of New South Wales state by-elections