Skip Ribbon Commands
Skip to main content

The Spark: The Act that Brought Parliament and the Supreme Court to NSW

The Spark: The Act that Brought Parliament and the Supreme Court to NSW

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ The-Spark-Conference-Banner.png
EVENT DETAILS
Across this two-day conference, with esteemed experts and special guests we delved into the intriguing stories and fascinating figures surrounding the NSW Act of 1823 - the Act that sparked the development of Australia's first Legislative Council and Supreme Court, laying the foundations for 200 years of evolving parliamentary democracy and rule of law.​ 
The conference was held on 13 and 14 November 2023, with recordings and related information coming soon below. You can download the conference information booklet here. 
Conference-Sep-2022-Program-Heading.png
​​    Welcome to Day One 
​​
About this session
The conference was opened by President of the NSW Legislative Council the Hon Ben Franklin MLC, and included a look back at what was learned during our very first Bicentenary conference, The State of the Colony: People, Place and Politics in 1823, with Clerk of the Parliaments David Blunt AM and Usher of the Black Rod Jenelle Moore.​

Watch:​​
 


Re​​​ad:​​
Find the full transcript of the opening from page 1 of the Hansard record here. 
     ​ NSW in the World of Empire
About this session
In this session we explored the NSW's place in the 'world of Empire' with​ Professor Stephen Garton AM​, discovering a particularly interesting connection to to the establishment of the Legislative Council. 

Wa​tch:​​
 


​​Read:​​
Find the full transcript of 'NSW in the World of Empire' from page 5 of the Hansard record here. 
​​ The 1823 Act: From Debate to Enactment
About this session
Esteemed barrister Bret Walker AO SC and former Clerk of the Parliaments Lynn Lovelock helped unpack the NSW Act of 1823 – with Lynn exploring the debates and the parliamentary processes back in England that helped shape and ultimately pass the Act, and Bret delving into the intent of the Act and its constitutional significance.​​

Watch:​​
 


​​Read:​​
Find the full transcript of 'The 1823 Act: From Debate to Enactment' from page 14 of the Hansard record here. 
​    The Chief Justices of NSW Over 200 Years
About this session
On the afternoon of day one of the conference, we made a special visit to the Supreme Court if NSW to hear from Chief Justice the Hon Andrew Bell ​together with the Hon Virginia Bell AC and the Hon Keith Mason AC KC about NSW's first Chief Justices and those that followed. 

Watch:​​
 


​​Read:​​
Find the full transcript of 'The Chief Justices of NSW Over 200 Years' from page 26 of the Hansard record here. 
Conference-Sep-2022-Program-Heading.png
​    The Colonial Treasury
​​ About this session
In this special session delivered by current NSW Treasurer the Hon Daniel Mookhey MLC and Associate Professor Carol Liston AO, we stepped back in time to hear about the very beginnings of the Treasury – with the first Colonial Treasurer appointed following the Bigge Inquiry, at the same time the Legislative Council was coming into being. 

Watch:​​
 


​​Read:​​
Find the full transcript of 'The Colonial Treasury' from page 37 of the Hansard record here. 
Not Just Numbers: 200 Years of Audit Impact
About this session
With a Colonial Treasury comes the need for an Audit Office! In this session, the first female Auditor-General for New South Wales, Margaret Crawford PSM, shared insights into how the Audit Office has evolved since 1824, and how legislative changes have enabled this integrity body to help Parliament hold government accountable for its use of public resources. 

Watch:​​
 


​​Read:​​
Find the full transcript of 'Not Just Numbers: 200 Years of Audit Impact' from page 44 of the Hansard record here. 
    Law and Justice in NSW After 1823:
    The Architecture and Aftermath of the NSW Act
About this session
The creation of the first Legislative Council following the NSW Act was a foundational moment in the reform of the colony’s constitutional and legal architecture. In this session we explored the 'aftermath' of the Act in the colony with Associate Professor David Andrew Roberts.​ 

Watch:​​
 


​​Read:​​
Find the full transcript of 'Law and Justice in NSW After 1823: The Architecture and Aftermath of the NSW Act' from page 51 of the Hansard record here. 
​    Political Hacks and the Mad Macs
About this session
We delved behind the scenes of the very first Legislative Council in this colourful session with author Sue Williams, exploring the personal trials and tribulations of the Council's inaugural members. The gentlemen included Francis Forbes as Chief Justice; Frederick Goulburn as Colonial Secretary; William Stewart as Lieutenant-Governor; John Oxley as Surveyor-General; and James Bowman as Principal Surgeon.

Watch:​​
 


​​Read:​​
Find the full transcript of 'Political Hack and the Mad Macs' from page 66 of the Hansard record here. 
The NSW Legislative Council's Place in the Political Landscape in the 1820s​
About this session
The early Legislative Council was considered in the context of the shifting and emerging political tapestry of the day in this session with Professor Frank Bongiorno AM, including an exploration of the unique political and public culture in which the Council was established.​

Watch:​​
 


​​Read:​​
Find the full transcript of 'The NSW Legislative Council's Place in the Political Landscape in the 1820s' from page 59 of the Hansard record here. 
The Constitution Act of 1842 and the Struggle for Responsible Government
About this session
Down the line from the NSW Act of 1823, the Constitution Act of 1842 gave the colony of NSW ‘representative government’, but it was more than a decade later that 'responsible government' was granted. We explored what this meant for the Council and the colony in this session with Professor Emerita Anne Twomey.

Watch:​​
 


​​Read:​​
Find the full transcript of 'The Constitution Act of 1842 and the Struggle for Responsible Government' from page 72 of the Hansard record here. 
Conference-Sep-2022-Program-Heading.png
Professor-Stephen-Garton Professor Stephen Garton AM
Professor Stephen Garton is currently a Professor of History and Principal Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor at the University of Sydney. He is the author or co-author of seven books and more than 80 articles and chapters on various aspects of Australian social and cultural history, the history of the British Dominions and aspects of American history, focusing on themes such as the history of madness, crime, masculinity and the aftermath of war.

Stephen is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities, the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, the Royal Australian Historical Society, and the Royal Society of NSW. He has also had a long career in university administration at the University of Sydney, serving as Head of the History Department (1996-8), Dean of the Arts Faculty (2001-9), Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (2009-19) and Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor (2019-21). He was also interim Vice-Chancellor and Principal in 2020-21. ​​

Bret-Walker
​​ Bret Walker AO SC​
Bret Walker was admitted to the New South Wales Bar and as a practitioner of the High Court of Australia in 1979. He was appointed senior counsel in 1993 and served as the President of the Law Council of Australia from 1997 to 1998, and later as the President of the New South Wales Bar Association. Bret was Australia’s inaugural Independent National Security Legislation Monitor and has served as a member of numerous councils and foundations. He was the Chairman of the Law Council of Australia National Criminal Law Liaison Committee from 1998-2001, and continues to act as a Constitutional Law Advisor to the Law Council of Australia. Bret was also the Editor of the New South Wales Law reports from 2009 to 2018. He has been appointed to several inquiries as a Commissioner, including the Special Commission of Inquiry into Sydney Ferries (2007) and the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission (2018-2019). He most recently was appointed as Commissioner on the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess (2020). 
​​​ Lynn-Lovelock
​Lynn Lovelock
​A parliamentary pioneer, Lynn Lovelock was the first woman to hold the distinguished role of Clerk of the Parliaments and, prior to that, was the first female Usher of the Black Rod at the NSW Parliament. Lynn joined the Department of the Legislative Council in 1987, was Usher from 1988 and Deputy Clerk from 1991, before serving as Clerk from 2007 until her retirement from the role in 2011. She clerked the Legislative Council Privileges Committee from 1991 until 2007, and was actively involved in the establishment of a parliamentary code of ethics and the development of procedures to safeguard returns of privileged papers before the House.

Lynn has written widely in the fields of parliamentary law and practice, and made critical contributions to parliamentary procedure during her time at the Parliament – including as co-author of New South Wales Legislative Council Practice, the definitive record of the Council’s rules and procedures. In 2005, she undertook the first major revision of the Council’s standing orders in nearly 110 years. While at the Parliament, Lynn was involved in setting up and training members of the first independent National Parliament of East Timor, and championed the program of 'twinned' relationships with legislatures in the Pacific to bolster parliamentary practice and procedure across the region. Research and history are passions for Lynn, who has most recently spent time in the UK scouring early records to help chart the birth of the first Legislative Council in NSW while working on her second novel. ​​

Andrew-Bell
​Chief Justice the Hon Andrew Bell​
​​Appointed as President of the Court of Appeal on 28 February 2019, Andrew Bell was elevated to Chief Justice on 7 March 2022. After a succession of academic achievements at the University of Sydney and a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, he became one of the foremost experts on private international law and transnational litigation. His Honour was admitted to the Bar in 1995 and was appointed Senior Counsel in 2006.
Virginia-Bell
​Virginia Bell AC
​​Virginia Bell graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Laws in 1977. After seven years as a solicitor with the Redfern Legal Centre, she was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1984. Between 1994 and 1997 she was a counsel assisting ​the Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service. She was appointed a Senior Counsel in 1997. Virginia was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in March 1999. She was appointed a judge of the New South Wales Court of Appeal in 2008. She was appointed to the High Court in February 2009, and served until her retirement in February 2021. ​
Keith-Mason
​Keith Mason​ AC KC
​Keith Mason has been a solicitor, barrister, law reformer, Solicitor-General, President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal, law teacher and mediator. He has published on topics including judicial method, legal taxonomy, the law of restitution, and the interface of law, morality and religion. Currently he is adjunct professor at the University of New South Wales, President of the Appellate Tribunal of the Anglican Church of Australia, and Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of New South Wales. Keith was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2003 for service to the law and legal scholarship, to the judicial system in New South Wales, to the Anglican Church, and to the community. ​
David-Andrew-Roberts
​​​Associate Professor David Andrew Roberts​​
David Andrew Roberts is an Associate Professor of History at the University of New England, where he researches Australia's early history and edits the Journal of Australian Colonial History. He is best known for his work on the history and legacy of Australia's convict past. His research is currently funded by a collaborative Australian Research Council grant for the project 'Inquiring into Empire: Remaking the British world after 1815'.


Treasurer-Mookhey
​​​The Hon Daniel Mookhey
​Daniel Mookhey was elected to the Parliament of NSW on 6 May 2015 as a member of the Legislative Council. The son of Indian migrants, he was the first MP in an Australian Parliament and the first Treasurer to be sworn in on the Hindu religious text, the Bhagavad Gita. P​rior to entering the Parliament, Daniel held senior roles in the Australian Council of Trade Unions and at the Transport Workers’ Union. Daniel is a formidable campaigner, parliamentary performer and policy developer. He describes himself as “a passionate advocate for the people of NSW, especially in rural and regional communities,” adding that, “as Treasurer, I will continue to find ways to improve their lives and stand up for workers’ rights”.
Treasurer-Mookhey
​​​Associate Professor Carol Liston AO​
​Carol Liston is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Western Sydney University. She is former president of the Royal Australian Historical Society and past editor of its Journal. Carol's research covers early colonial history in NSW, with interests in people (convict, colonial born and free immigrant), local history, heritage and the built environment. Her particular interest is the colonial development of the County of Cumberland. Carol's publications include histories of Campbelltown, Parramatta and Liverpool, biographies of Sarah Wentworth and Thomas Brisbane, and accounts of social life under Governor Macquarie and the convict women at the Female Factory, Parramatta. Her current research project with Dr Kathrine Reynolds is an investigation of convict women transported from Britain to NSW between 1800 and 1836.
Margaret-Crawford
​​​Margaret Crawford PSM​
​Margaret Crawford has many years of experience as a senior executive across large, complex public sector organisations – local, state and the Commonwealth governments – including the Victorian Department of Human Services, the Australian Taxation Office, the former NSW Roads and Traffic Authority, and Australia’s largest local government, Brisbane City Council. Before becoming Auditor-General for NSW, she held the position of Deputy Secretary at the former NSW Department of Family and Community Services. Margaret has worked across a diverse range of sectors, including housing and homelessness, community and disability services, road transport policy and regulation, taxation administration, and gaming regulation.
Sue-Williams
​​​Sue Williams
​Sue Williams is an award-winning journalist and travel writer, and a best-selling author of both non-fiction and historical fiction. Her novels have concentrated on the early colonial days of NSW and include Elizabeth & Elizabeth, about Elizabeth Macquarie and Elizabeth Macarthur, and That Bligh Girl, about Mary Bligh and her father, Governor William Bligh. Sue is currently working on a book about the previous Governor, Philip Gidley King, entitled The Governor, His Wife and The Mistress.
Frank-Bongiorno
​​Professor ​​Frank Bongiorno AM
​Frank Bongiorno is Professor of History at the Australian National University and President of the Australian Historical Association. His latest book is Dreamers and Schemers: A Political History of Australia (2022). Frank is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
Anne-Twomey
Professor Emerita Anne Twomey
Anne Twomey is a Professor Emerita of the University of Sydney, where she taught constitutional law for many years. She has also worked for the High Court of Australia, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Research Service, the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee and the Cabinet Office of New South Wales. She has published the authoritative text on The Constitution of New South Wales (Federation Press, 2004) and written about the State’s constitutional history.
​ ​​** Images of the NSW Act​​ used in The Spark conference signage and video courtesty of the UK Parliament's​ Parliamentary Archives