Robertson ministry (1868–1870)

The second Robertson ministry was the eleventh ministry of the Colony of New South Wales, and was led by John Robertson. It was the second of five occasions that Robertson was Leader of the Government. Robertson was elected in the first free elections for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly held in March 1856.

Second Robertson ministry
11th Cabinet of the Colony of New South Wales
Premier John Robertson and the Colony of New South Wales (1863–1900)
Date formed	27 October 1868 (1868-10-27)
Date dissolved	20 January 1870 (1870-01-20)
People and organisations
Monarch	Queen Victoria
Governor	The Earl Belmore
Head of government	John Robertson
No. of ministers	8
Member party	unaligned
Status in legislature	Minority government
Opposition party	unaligned
Opposition leader	James Martin Charles Cowper
History
Predecessor	Second Martin ministry
Successor	Fifth Cowper ministry

The title of Premier 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.^[1] Such ministerial by-elections were usually uncontested and on this occasion a poll was required at Wellington (Saul Samuel) however he was comfortably re-elected with 69% of the vote. The other ministers were all re-elected unopposed.^[2]

This ministry covers the period from 27 October 1868 until 12 January 1870, when Robertson resigned his commission after he failed to gain support of the Assembly.^[3] Robertson stood aside for his colleague, Charles Cowper.^[4]

Composition of ministry

Portfolio	Minister	Term start	Term end	Term length
Premier Colonial Secretary	John Robertson	27 October 1868	12 January 1870	1 year, 77 days
Colonial Treasurer	Saul Samuel
Secretary for Lands	William Forster
Secretary for Public Works	John Sutherland
Attorney General	Sir William Manning MLC [a]
Solicitor General	Joshua Josephson		9 September 1869	317 days
	Julian Salomons [b]	18 December 1869	12 January 1870	25 days
Postmaster-General	Daniel Egan	27 October 1868		1 year, 77 days
Representative of the Government in the Legislative Council	Robert Owen MLC [c]

  Ministers are members of the Legislative Assembly unless otherwise noted.

1. A Member of the Government without a seat in the Cabinet.
2. Julian Salomons was not appointed to the Legislative Council until 11 August 1870, 7 months after his appointment as Solicitor General.^[5]
3. A Member of the Government with a seat in the Cabinet.

See also

• New South Wales portal
• Politics portal

• Self-government in New South Wales
• Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, 1864–1869
• First Robertson ministry (1860–1861)
• Third Robertson ministry (1875–1877)
• Fourth Robertson ministry (1877)
• Fifth Robertson ministry (1885–1886)