Hi Gerry,
Well, last evening our friends at our dinner table returned a book borrowed some time ago. We share various family history reference books. I can now confirm various significant dates and criteria re eligible to enrol to vote matters !
Source “A Guide to New South Wales State Archives relating to Responsible Government” published November 2005 by The State Records Authority of New South Wales, ISBN 0-9757845-0-1
Dec 1859 Qld formally separated from NSW. So, prior to that the NSW conditions would be significant, and would have carried over into Qld until (or if) Qld altered these.
The (NSW) Electoral Act of 1858 "established manhood suffrage alongside property voting. All adult males who had lived in an electorate at least six months before making of the Electoral List and were either ‘natural born’ or had been naturalised and had lived in the colony for three years were qualified to vote. The property qualifications were retained and allowed an adult male to vote in every electorate where he had the necessary property. Holders of miners’ rights were allowed to vote in the three Gold Fields electorates and electoral qualifications were specified for the election of a member to be returned by the University of Sydney when the number of graduates reached 100. However, no elector could hold a right to vote more than once at any election in an electoral district. Members of the Police and serving members of the naval or military service were barred from voting as well as paupers, prisoners and persons of unsound mind......” (This is part of two paragraphs from page 94 of the above cited book).
Clear as mud perhaps ! But the over-riding criteria was that the electors were British Subjects, either by being born such or by formally becoming such !
Cheers, JM
