Where to find the Parliamentary Debates

This part explains where to find Parliamentary Debates. It was not until 1879 that the Parliament appointed an official Reporting Staff or Hansard to report and publish eht debates in both Houses of Parliament and that consequently all reports prior to 1879 are not official.

1. Hansard for the years: 1991 - date
The 'Debates' since 1991 are available on-line via these links: http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Hansard

2. Hansard for the years: 1879 - 1990
In 1879, fifty-five years after the inception of the first Legislative Council in 1824,and twenty-three years after Responsible Government (1856), the Parliament appointed an official Reporting Staff or Hansard to report and publish the debates in both Houses of Parliament.

The 'Parliamentary Debates' for this period were printed and bound into volumes. They are arranged by Parliamentary session and each session is indexed by the name of the member and by subject. THESE VOLUMES ARE NOT AVAILABLE TO BE CONSULTED AT THE PARLIAMENT OF NSW. Sets of the 'Parliamentary Debates' are available at the State Library of NSW, other State Libraries, the National Library of Australia and University Libraries.

3. Hansard for the years: 1856 - 1879
The reports of the debates of the 1st Parliament to the 9th Parliament will be found in the newspapers and journals of the day, such as the 'Sydney Morning Herald', and the 'Empire'. THESE NEWSPAPERS ARE NOT AVAILABLE AT THE PARLIAMENT OF NSW. There are microfilm copies of the 'Sydney Morning Herald' and other newspapers at the State Library of NSW and in other State Libraries, the National Library and University libraries.

There is a modern two-volume index to this period. However it is not consolidated and as there are two indexes per Parliament (making a total of 18 separate indexes), it is unwieldy and not easy to use. It is the 'Index to the NSW Parliamentary Debates (Sydney Morning Herald): First to Ninth Parliaments' (1856 - 1880), in two volumes, by Ian Marsh, 1990. This index is also available in State and University Libraries and the National Library.

4. Hansard for the years: 1838 - 1855
The reports of the debates of the first Legislative Council will be found in the newspapers of the day, such as the 'Sydney Morning Herald', the 'Monitor' and the 'Australian'

There is an index printed by the Government Printer, which should be available in the Mitchell and State Libraries. It is: Index to the Sydney Morning Herald's reports on the debates in the Legislative Council of NSW: Sessions 1843-1848, Sydney Government Printer, 1846, 2 volumes. The same: Sessions 1843-1854 (with exceptions). Index to the Sydney Morning Herald's reports on the debates in the Legislative Council of NSW: Session 2, 1846, Sydney Government Printer, 1846 (NOTE: Copy in the Parliamentary Library)

As well, people occasionally collected and published debates relating to particular topics. The most important collections would be:

Thompson, Edward Deas, 'Corrected Report of the Speeches of the Honourable Edward Deas Thomson, Esq., Colonial Secretary of NSW, Delivered in the Legislative Council, on the First and Second Reading of the Bill for the Division of the Colony into Electoral Districts, in the First Session of 1851', Sydney, W. and F. Ford, 1851.
Silvester, Edward Kennedy (ed.), 'The Speeches, in the Legislative Council of NSW, on the Second Reading of the Bill for Framing a New Constitution for the Colony', Sydney, Thomas Daniel, 1853 [Reprinted 1896].

The present Legislative Council Office also compiled in the early 1950s (as part of the series of 'Consolidated Indexes' 1856 - 1954) a 'Consolidated Index to the Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Council 1843 - 1855', which includes references to the 'Sydney Morning Herald' reports of debates. A copy of this is available for perusal at the Parliamentary Archives.

5. Hansard for the years: 1824 - 1837
Debates were not reported in this period as neither members of the public nor representatives of the press were permitted to attend the sittings of the Council. Consequently there are no reports of debates for these years. Although the issues were discussed in contemporary newspaper.

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