Henry Parkes - Campaign For Self-government

Campaign For Self-government

Parkes started to take a keen interest in the public proceedings of the colony and the burning question of the day, namely, the stoppage of convict transportation. Self-government was another important question of the day, the first step towards this objective having occurred in 1843, when an enlarged Legislative Council was sworn in, consisting partly of nominated and partly of elected members, and the powers of the governor were much restricted as a consequence.

The third big question on people's lips was the colony's land laws. The struggle to make them fairer was to last for many years.

Parkes, meanwhile, began writing for the Atlas and the People's Advocate; but it was not until 1848 that he first began to speak out in public on important issues of community concern. In that year, Robert Lowe, 1st Viscount Sherbrooke, was a candidate for the constituency of Sydney, standing as a champion of the anti-transportation cause. Parkes became a member of Lowe's election committee, was appointed one of his secretaries, and wrote the address to the voters which helped to secure Lowe's return. This marks the beginning of Parkes's political career.

In 1849, Parkes was active at a meeting got up to petition both houses of parliament for a reduction of the suffrage qualifications. He made his first political speech, and advocated universal suffrage, which was not to become a reality for many years. Parkes thought his own speech a very weak performance. As a result of the petition, the qualification to vote was reduced to £10 household and £100 freehold.

The transportation question again came to the fore when the convict ship Hashemy arrived in the colony on 8 June 1849. Despite pouring rain, a huge public rally was held at Sydney's Circular Quay, protesting against the continuance of transportation to New South Wales, and the agitation was kept up until success was achieved in 1852, when an end was put to the practice by the British Government. Parkes could derive satisfaction from the fact that he had spoken ardently against transportation at the various public meetings that had been organised by its opponents, and he had further aided the anti-transportation cause by writing articles in the press.

During December 1850, Parkes founded the Empire newspaper. At first a broadsheet only published weekly, it soon became a daily. Parkes as editor was strong in his loyalty to the British Empire; but he felt that an honest and independent journal which was not be blind to the faults of the establishment could do useful work in the colony. It so happened that the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy, had neither the ability nor the industry of his immediate predecessors, and the Empire did not hesitate to point out his shortcomings, and those of the officials surrounding him. Parkes as editor and proprietor became a figure of great importance, and while he had control of the publication he worked unceasingly, writing articles, procuring news, and managing the business side of the enterprise (never his strong suit).

In the pages of his paper, he fought for constitutional reform and spoke strenuously against the views of the leading politician William Charles Wentworth. In 1853, Wentworth had obtained the appointment of a sub-committee which brought forward a scheme for a new constitution for New South Wales that had the introduction of responsible government as its centrepiece. The ensuing bill was hotly debated in the colonial legislature in August of that year and carried by 33 votes to eight. Long years later, Parkes averred that, "in the heated opposition to the objectionable parts of Mr Wentworth's scheme, no sufficient attention was given to its great merits".