1894 Bathurst colonial by-election

A by-election for the seat of Bathurst in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly was held on 14 August 1894 because Sydney Smith (Free Trade) had been appointed Secretary for Mines and Agriculture in the Reid ministry.^[1]^[2] Such ministerial by-elections were usually uncontested and four ministers were re-elected unopposed, James Brunker (East Maitland), Joseph Carruthers (St George), Jacob Garrard (Sherbrooke) and James Young (The Manning). A poll was required in Bathurst, Hartley (Joseph Cook), Singleton (Albert Gould) and Sydney-King (George Reid) however all were comfortably re-elected.^[3]

Dates

Date	Event
17 July 1894	1894 New South Wales colonial election
3 August 1894	Reid ministry appointed.^[4]
4 August 1894	Writ of election issued by the Governor.^[5]^[a]
9 August 1894	Day of nomination
11 August 1894	Polling day
24 August 1894	Return of writ

1894 Bathurst by-election
Saturday 11 August ^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Free Trade	Sydney Smith (re-elected)	951	77.4	+27.7
	Independent Labour	James Walker	277	22.6	+10.6
Total formal votes			1,228	99.1	+0.1
Informal votes			11	0.9	−0.1
Turnout			1,239	51.5 ^[b]	−32.7
	Free Trade hold

^ Ordinarily the writ for a by-election would be issued by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, however the ministers were appointed before Parliament convened and the writs were issued by the Governor.
^ Estimate based on a roll of 2,031 at the 1894 election.^[6]

^ ^a ^b Green, Antony. "1894 Bathurst by-election". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
^ "The Hon. Sydney Smith (1856–1934)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
^ Green, Antony. "1894 to 1895 by-elections". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
^ "Appointment of ministers". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 506. 3 August 1894. p. 4891. Retrieved 25 September 2020 – via Trove.
^ "Writ of election: Bathurst". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 507. 4 August 1894. p. 4895. Retrieved 20 April 2021 – via Trove.
^ Green, Antony. "1894 Bathurst". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 22 November 2019.

v t e By-elections of the 16th New South Wales parliament (1894–1895)
1894	Bathurst Sydney-King Hartley Singleton Grenfell Willoughby Tweed
1895	Boorowa Bowral Canterbury
1st (1856–1858) 2nd (1858–1859) 3rd (1859–1860) 4th (1860–1864) 5th (1864–1869) 6th (1869–1872) 7th (1872–1874) 8th (1874–1877) 9th (1877–1880) 10th (1880–1882) 11th (1882–1885) 12th (1885–1887) 13th (1887–1889) 14th (1889–1891) 15th (1891–1894) 16th (1894–1895) 17th (1895–1898) 18th (1898–1901) 19th (1901–1904) 20th (1904–1907) 21st (1907–1910) 22nd (1910–1913) 23rd (1913–1917) 24th (1917–1920) 25th (1920–1922) 26th (1922–1925) 27th (1925–1927) 28th (1927–1930) 29th (1930–1932) 30th (1932–1935) 31st (1935–1938) 32nd (1938–1941) 33rd (1941–1944) 34th (1944–1947) 35th (1947–1950) 36th (1950–1953) 37th (1953–1956) 38th (1956–1959) 39th (1959–1962) 40th (1962–1965) 41st (1965–1968) 42nd (1968–1971) 43rd (1971–1973) 44th (1973–1976) 45th (1976–1978) 46th (1978–1981) 47th (1981–1984) 48th (1984–1988) 49th (1988–1991) 50th (1991–1995) 51st (1995–1999) 52nd (1999–2003) 53rd (2003–2007) 54th (2007–2011) 55th (2011–2015) 56th (2015–2019) 57th (2019–2023) 58th (2023–2027)