History of the State Parliament

	CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

Council of Government 1836-1843	The South Australian Colonisation Act, 1834 gave statutory authority 'to erect South Australia into a British province'. It empowered a Council of Government to make laws, constitute courts, and impose taxes necessary for the peace, order and good government of the province. A Board of Commissioners was set up to sell lands in the new province. Half of the proceeds from this sale of land were used to convey emigrants to South Australia. In South Australia the transportation of convicts was prohibited. Under the South Australian Colonisation Act, 1834 a Constitution of local government was to be granted when the population reached 50,000.
Legislative Council 1843-1856	From the arrival of the first Governor, Captain John Hindmarsh, K.H., R.N., on 28 December 1836 until 4 December 1839 in South Australia a Council of Government of five members existed. This Council of Government included: the Governor, the Judge, the Colonial Secretary, the Advocate-General and the Resident Commissioner. This Council of Government exercised both legislative and executive powers. The sale of land in the new province and the application of the proceeds from this was the responsibility of a Board of Commissioners. The division of control between the Governor and the Resident Commissioner in South Australia brought its problems and conflicts. In 1838 the separate authorities of the Governor and the Resident Commissioner were united in one person. From 1838 until 1843 the Council of Government comprised the Governor and Resident Commissioner, the Colonial Secretary, the Advocate-General, the Surveyor-General and the Assistant Commissioner of Lands. All these Members were appointed by the Crown.
Legislative Council 1843-1856	In 1842 the authority of the Board of Commissioners was terminated by Imperial legislation. All power was vested in the Colonial Office which placed South Australia in the same position as other Crown Colonies. A Legislative Council was constituted to consist of the Governor, with three official Members ~ the Colonial Secretary, the Advocate-General, and the Registrar-General - and four non-official Members all nominated by the Crown. In 1843, for the first time in South Australia, the voices of Members other than paid servants of the Crown were heard in the Council's deliberations and the public were admitted to its proceedings. South Australia was governed by this type of Legislative Council from 1843 to 1851. In 1851, under the authority of the Imperial enabling Act for the 'Better Government of Her Majesty's Australian Colonies', the Legislative Council passed Ordinance No. 1 of 1851, to constitute a new Council. This new form of Legislative Council consisted of twenty four Members - four official and four non-official Members nominated by the Crown, and sixteen Members returned by the electors. The Governor no longer presided over the deliberations of the Legislative Council, and the Members now elected their own Speaker. The Constitution of the new Council was in some respects an experiment, and power to amend it was given to Council, provided that any Bills for such purpose were reserved for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure. This hybrid Council of appointed and elected Members (with a majority of the latter) continued to be the Legislature until the inauguration of responsible Government in 1857.
	INAUGURATION OF RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT

	In the Constitution and Electoral Law Bills passed by the Legislative Council in the session of 1855-56, provision was made for the following new features in the Constitution of South Australia: A Bicameral Parliament consisting of a Legislative Council of eighteen Members and a House of Assembly of thirty-six Members. The Legislative Council was to be elected by the entire colony voting as one district; the House of Assembly to consist of seventeen districts, varying in representation from one to six Members. The inauguration of a system of responsible Government. The franchise of the Legislative Council to be based on a property qualification - freehold of the value of fifty pounds, leasehold of the annual value of twenty pounds having three years to run or a right of pre-emption, or occupation of a house of the annual value of twenty-five pounds. All adult males to be entitled to vote at House of Assembly elections. Voting at Parliamentary elections to be by secret ballot. The new Constitution Bill was laid upon the table of both Houses of the Imperial Parliament on 19 May 1856, and in accordance with the enabling statute, remained there for thirty days. It was assented to by Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace on 24 June 1856, and on 24 October 1856 was proclaimed in South Australia by the Governor, Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell. On the same day the Governor announced the personnel of the first Government under the new Constitution, led by the Hon. B. T. Finniss. The first bicameral Parliament of South Australia met on Wednesday, 22 April 1857.
	PRINCIPAL CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES SINCE 1857

'Women's Franchise' Act, 1894	The Constitution Act was amended in 1894 to confer on women the right to vote for, or to be elected as, Members of either House of Parliament. This Act brought about the most significant change in the franchise in the history of the Parliament of South Australia. The Legislature of South Australia was the first in Australia to extend Parliamentary franchise to women, and the first in the world to allow women to stand for election to Parliament, but it was not until 1959 that any women were elected to the Parliament.
Federation 1901	The external danger in the 1880's and the domestic inconvenience of internal tariff walls led the Australian colonies to agree to federate, after long negotiations. A British Act of Parliament, the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, was passed in 1900 and became operative on 1 January 1901. The terms of the federal agreement were that the colonies should be States in the Federation and retain their existing Constitutions and apparatus of Government. A new central authority should be created with Australia-wide authority. This authority would include a Parliament, Executive, Judiciary and subordinate machinery of Government. The Federal authority would have a specific list of powers under Section 52 of the Commonwealth Constitution and the States would retain any other powers known as residual powers. The courts would 'police' the whole system.
Adult Franchise	The franchise of the Legislative Council was originally based on a property qualification. However, the restricted franchise for the Legislative Council set out in the Constitution of 1856 was gradually widened until in 1973 all voters on the House of Assembly roll became eligible to vote for both Houses. In 1972 the minimum voting age was reduced from twenty-one to eighteen years. Under the Constitution Act Amendment Act 1973, all electors whose names were on the House of Assembly roll were included on the Legislative Council electoral roll. In 1973, the right to stand for election to either House was granted to any eligible voter on the House of Assembly roll. Under the Electoral Act 1985, voting for the Legislative Council was made compulsory.
Today’s Parliament	Currently the House of Assembly has 47 members, each of whom represents an electorate which has roughly the same population of about 20,000 voters. The Legislative Council has 22 members, each of whom represents the whole of the State. The life of the Parliament is limited to four years, but the House of Assembly may be dissolved sooner by the Governor on the advice of the Premier in certain circumstances.