Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council, 1832–1870

When it first met on 7 February 1832, the Western Australian Legislative Council consisted only of five government officials.

Western Australia was a crown colony from its establishment in 1829 as the Swan River Colony until the advent of representative government in 1870. During this time executive and legislative power was vested in the Governor of Western Australia, but from 1832 he had Executive and Legislative Councils to assist and advise him. The Western Australian Legislative Council met for the first time on 7 February 1832. This is a list of members of the Western Australian Legislative Council between 1832 and 1870.

Official members, 1832–1870

The Western Australian Legislative Council was initially composed of five ex officio members; that is, members by virtue of their official government positions. These official positions were: the Governor, the Commandant, the Colonial Secretary, the Surveyor-General and the Advocate-General. The Collector of Revenue was added in 1847, and the Comptroller-General in June 1852.[1][2]

This is a list of official members of the Western Australian Legislative Council between 1832 and 1870. Due to gaps in official records, some dates are approximate and the list may omit some members who were acting in official positions.

Period	Official members
	Governor	Commandant	Colonial Secretary	Surveyor General	Advocate General	Collector of Revenue	Comptroller General
7 February 1832 – 1834	James Stirling	Frederick Irwin	Peter Broun	John Septimus Roe	William Mackie	Not a member until 1847	Not a member until 1852
1834–3 January 1839					George Fletcher Moore
3 January 1839 – 27 January 1846	John Hutt
27 January 1846–November 1846	Andrew Clarke
November 1846–May 1847			George Fletcher Moore (acting)		Richard West Nash (acting)
May–June 1847			Dr Richard Robert Madden Richard Robert Madden		George Fletcher Moore
June 1847–12 August 1848						Henry Sutherland
12 August 1848–January 1849	Charles Fitzgerald
January 1849–March 1850			Revett Henry Bland (acting)
March–October 1850			Thomas Yule (acting)
October 1850–March 1851			Charles Piesse
March 1851 – 1852			Thomas Yule (acting)
1852					Bartholemew Vigors (acting)		Edmund Henderson
January 1852 – 1854			William Sanford
1854–1855		G. M. Reeves			Richard Birnie
1855		John Bruce				Richard Broun
1855–July 1855						Anthony O'Grady Lefroy
July–23 July 1855			Frederick Barlee
23 July 1855 – 1857	Arthur Edward Kennedy
1857–1859					George Stone (acting)
1859–28 February 1862					George Stone
28 February 1862 – 31 January 1863	John Hampton
31 January 1863[3]–May 1866							William Newland
May 1866–1 November 1868							George Hampton (acting)
2 November 1868[4]–30 September 1869	John Bruce (acting)						Henry Wakeford
30 September 1869 – 1870	Frederick Weld

Unofficial nominee members, 1839–1867

In 1839 provision was made for the addition of four non-official nominee positions on the Legislative Council. The first four nominee members were sworn in on 4 March 1839. This is a list of non-official nominee members of the Legislative Council between 1839 and 1867.

Period	Nominee members
4 March 1839 – 1840	William Locke Brockman	George Leake	Thomas Peel	William Tanner
1840-May 1840	vacant
May 1840-31 March 1841	Edward Barrett-Lennard
31 March[5]–April 1841			vacant
April–July 1841			Thomas Yule
July 1841 – 1842			William Mackie (acting)
1842–June 1842	vacant
June–July 1842			Thomas Yule
July 1842 – 1843	William Mackie
1843–March 1844				vacant
March 1844 – 1846				Francis Singleton
1846–1847				vacant
1847–June 1847			vacant
June–September 1847				Walter Andrews
September 1847 – 1848				vacant
1848–October 1848			Richard Nash
October 1848–31 May 1849				Samuel Moore
31 May–July 1849		vacant
July–December 1849				vacant
December 1849 – 1850		Lionel Samson
1850–December 1850				Marshall Waller Clifton
December 1850–May 1851			Thomas Brown (acting)
May 1851–May 1852			Thomas Brown
May 1852–March 1855			William Clifton
March 1855–October 1856			John Wall Hardey
October 1856–March 1857		vacant
March–June 1857	Samuel Pole Phillips (acting)	Edward Hamersley
June 1857–April 1859	Samuel Pole Phillips
April–October 1859				vacant
October 1859 – 1867				Lionel Samson

Unofficial nominee members, 1868–1870

During the 1860s there was much public debate about the possibility of instituting representative government. This culminated in June 1865 with the submission of a petition to the Legislative Council asking for a larger and partially elected Legislative Council. As a compromise, the Legislative Council sought permission to add two more nominee members. This permission was received in September 1867, but the Governor then went further by allowing the colony to informally elect six persons whom he would then nominate to the Legislative Council. The colony was divided into six districts: Perth, Fremantle, Guildford, Eastern Districts, Murray and Champion Bay. The first five of these district elected representatives who were then nominated to the Legislative Council as promised. The Champion Bay district, which had led the push for representative government, refused to participate in what it saw as a sham election, so the Governor nominated to the final seat his ally John Wall Hardey, who had polled only four votes in the Guildford district election. This arrangement prevailed until July 1870, when the Legislative Council was reconstituted under a system of representative government.[1][2]

Period	Unofficially elected					Nominated
	Perth	Fremantle	Guildford	Eastern Districts	Murray
July 1868–May 1870	Julian Carr	Walter Bateman	William Locke Brockman	Samuel Pole Phillips	James Lee Steere	John Wall Hardey
May–August 1870		Edward Newman

References

Except where otherwise indicated, all list data was obtained from The Western Australian Parliamentary Handbook[6]

1. de Garis, Brian (1991). "The First Legislative Council, 1832–1870". In Black, David (ed.). The House on the Hill: A History of the Parliament of Western Australia. Parliament House, Perth, Western Australia: Parliament of Western Australia. ISBN 0-7309-3983-9.
2. de Garis, Brian (1981). "Political Tutelage 1829–1890". In Stannage, C. T. (ed.). A New History of Western Australia. Nedlands, Western Australia: university of Western Australia Press. ISBN 0-85564-170-3.
3. Hasluck, Alexander (1959). Unwilling Emigrants. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
4. Wieck, George F. "Bruce, John (1808–1870)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
5. Hasluck, Alexandra (1965). Thomas Peel of Swan River. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
6. Black, David, ed. (2005). The Western Australian Parliamentary Handbook, Twenty-first Edition. Parliament House, Perth, Western Australia: Parliament of Western Australia. ISBN 1-920830-46-4.