1857 constitution a world leader: gives all males right to vote for new House of Assembly

South Australia’s constitution, adopted in 1851, made it one of the most democratically progressive places in the world, ahead of other Australian colonies, the United Kingdom and most European countries.

The constitution passed by the South Australian Legislative Council made the colony self governing with two houses of parliament able to bring in laws, with some acts reserved for royal assent.

A 37-member House of Assembly lower house was created to join the 18-member fully-elected Legislative Council upper house.

For House of Assembly elections, every male (including Aboriginals) over 21 years (and not convicted of a felony) could vote after six months registration. The adoption of the one-man-one-vote principle meant plural voting was abolished. Plural voting, previously common, allowed electors to vote in any electorate in which they owned property.

Voters in Legislative Council elections remained restricted to those who owned a certain amount of wealth or property.

The constitution also provided for a third of the Legislative Council members to retire every four years; and for the members of the House of Assembly to have a maximum term of three years.

Between 1882 and 1973, the upper house moved from representing the whole of South Australia to beingdivided into four and later five districts; membership varied between 18 and 24 members.

All these changes came from Britain’s Australian Colonies Government Act [1850] that which granted representative constitutions to New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. But South Australia came up with the most progressive moves. Neither New South Wales in 1853 nor Victoria and Tasmania in 1854 had included this universal male suffrage in their constitutions.