Electoral district of Wilcannia

Wilcannia was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales from 1889 to 1904. The district was named after and included the town of Wilcannia. Prior to 1889 Wilcannia was part of the district of Wentworth. The population in Wentworth had grown significantly since the 1880 redistribution, especially as a result of the growth of mining at Broken Hill. Under the formula for seats, Wentworth was due to return 3 members. Because of the large area covered by the district, in 1889 it was split into 3, Wentworth, Sturt and Wilcannia.^[1] Its first member was the son of Charles Dickens.^[2] It was abolished in 1904 due to the re-distribution of electorates following the 1903 New South Wales referendum, which required the number of members of the Legislative Assembly to be reduced from 125 to 90.^[3] The district was divided between Cobar and the new district of The Darling.^[4][5] The member for Wilcannia was Richard Sleath (Independent Labour) who unsuccessfully contested the 1904 election for The Darling.^[6][7]

Members for Wilcannia

Member		Party	Period
	Edward Dickens	Protectionist	1889–1894
	Richard Sleath	Labour	1894–1901
		Independent Labour	1901–1904

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Wilcannia

1901 New South Wales state election: Wilcannia ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Labor	Richard Sleath	637	47.9	−24.1
	Labour	John Buzacott	414	31.1
	Independent Liberal	Thomas Bell	280	21.0
Total formal votes			1,331	99.3	−0.3
Informal votes			10	0.8	+0.3
Turnout			1,341	52.5	+9.9
	Member changed to Independent Labour from Labour

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1901 New South Wales state election § Wilcannia.[edit]

References

1. "1880 Redistribution". Atlas of New South Wales. NSW Land & Property Information. Archived from the original on 23 June 2015.
2. "Mr Edward Bulwer Lytton Dickens (1852-1902)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
3. "1904 Redistribution". Atlas of New South Wales. NSW Land & Property Information. Archived from the original on 23 June 2015.
4. "Part 5B alphabetical list of all electorates and Members since 1856" (PDF). NSW Parliamentary Record. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
5. Green, Antony. "Elections for the District of Wilcannia". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
6. "Mr Richard Sleath (1863–1922)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
7. Green, Antony. "1904 Darling". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
8. Green, Antony. "1901 Wilcannia". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 2 April 2020.