1886 Victorian colonial election

1886 Victorian colonial election

←  1883 5 March 1886 1889  →
All 86 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly 44 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Duncan Gillies Alfred Deakin Party Conservative Liberal Leader's seat Rodney West Bourke Seats won 28 38 Percentage 29.86 39.33
Premier before election Duncan Gillies Liberal-Conservative coalition Elected Premier Duncan Gillies Liberal-Conservative coalition

The 1886 Victorian colonial election was held on 22 February 1883 to elect the 13th Parliament of Victoria. All 86 seats in 55 electorates in the Legislative Assembly were up for election, though eleven seats were uncontested. ^[1]

There were 31 single-member, 20 two-member and 5 three-member electorates. ^[1]

In early 1886 both James Service and Graham Berry had resigned as the Conservative and Liberal leaders in the coalition government. A new ministry was then elected on the eve of the election, which included the Conservative politician Duncan Gillies as Premier, Treasurer and Minister of Railways and the new leader of the Liberals, Alfred Deakin, as Chief Secretary and Minister of Water Supply. ^{[2] [3] [4]} In a widely expected result, the Conservative-Liberal coalition won the majority of seats in the new Parliament. ^[5]

Results

Legislative Assembly (FPTP) ^[1]

Party / Grouping			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Liberal		82,318	39.33		38
	Conservative		62,485	29.86		28
	Liberal (Opposition)		32,469	15.51		9
	Conservative (Opposition)		6,852	3.27		6
	Independent		25,169	12.03		5
Totals			209,293			86

Aftermath

An early priority for the new Gillies-Deakin administration was irrigation reform, responding to calls for government intervention to fund large-scale irrigation schemes. The Irrigation Act of 1886 led to the possibility of the development of major works, prevented the further private acquisition of riparian rights and declared all surface water in Victoria to be the property of the Crown. ^[6] In 1887 Deakin was the principal representative for Victoria at the Colonial Conference in London. ^[7]

After the years of rising prosperity prior to the 1886 election, Victoria's favourable reputation in London led to an influx of capital and increased immigration. Melbourne's population expanded, leading to pressures for land and housing and the extension of the suburban railway network. The resulting land speculation and building boom developed to such an extent that the orthodox banking system began to be compromised, with a large amount of speculative capital from Britain aggravating the problem. The land and building boom was encouraged by the government and compounded by Gillies' overconfidence and financial incompetence in his role as Premier and Treasurer. As land and property values in Melbourne escalated and the financial system became inceasingly corrupted, the government was loath to introduce regulations or meaningful reforms that might compromise the booming economy, nor did it make any attempt to protect investors against unsound or unscrupulous financial schemes. ^{[8] [4]}

See also

• Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, 1886–1889

References

1. "The Thirteenth Parliament Elected 5 March 1886". Psephos: Adam Carr's Electoral Archive.
2. The New Ministry, Leader (Melbourne), 27 February 1886, page 27.
3. The New Ministry, The Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil (Melbourne), 10 March 1886, page 35.
4. Margot Beever (1972), Duncan Gillies (1834–1903), Australian Dictionary of Biography website, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; accessed 16 December 2023.
5. Editorial, The Age (Melbourne), 6 March 1886, page 8.
6. Benjamin Rankin (2013), 'Alfred Deakin and Water Resources Politics in Australia', History Australia, Vol. 10, No. 2, page 124.
7. R. Norris (1981), Alfred Deakin (1856–1919), Australian Dictionary of Biography website, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; accessed 17 December 2023.
8. John Lack (2006), 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? Service and Gillies: The grand coalition premiers 1883-1890', Chapter 5 (in) Paul Strangio & Brian Costar (eds.) (2006), The Victorian Premiers 1856-2006, Leichhardt, NSW: The Federation Press, pages 85 and 86.