Editing New South Wales (section)

=== 1850s to 1890s ===
[[File:George Street Sydney 1883.jpg|left|thumb|George Street, Sydney, 1883, by [[Alfred Tischbauer]])]]
[[File:Mr E.H. Hargraves, The Gold Discoverer of Australia, Feb 12th 1851 returning the salute of the gold miners - Thomas Tyrwhitt Balcombe crop.jpg|thumb|''Mr [[Edward Hargraves|E.H. Hargraves]], ''The Gold Discoverer of Australia,'' 12 February 1851 returning the salute of the gold miners'']]
In 1856 New South Wales achieved [[responsible government]] with the introduction of a bicameral parliament comprising a directly elected [[New South Wales Legislative Assembly|Legislative Assembly]] and a nominated [[New South Wales Legislative Council|Legislative Council]]. [[William Wentworth|William Charles Wentworth]] was prominent in this process, but his proposal for a hereditary upper house was widely ridiculed and subsequently dropped.<ref name="Tink2">{{Cite book |author1=Tink, Andrew |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/28173894 |title=William Charles Wentworth : Australia's greatest native son |date=2009 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |isbn=978-1-74175-192-5}}</ref><ref>Hirst (2016). pp. 56–57</ref>

The property qualification for voters had been reduced in 1851, and by 1856 95 per cent of adult males in Sydney, and 55 per cent in the colony as a whole, were eligible to vote. Full adult male suffrage was introduced in 1858. In 1859 Queensland became a separate colony.<ref>Kingston, Beverley (2006). pp. 36, 55–57</ref>

In 1861 the NSW parliament legislated [[Robertson Land Acts|land reforms]] intended to encourage family farms and mixed farming and grazing ventures. The amount of land under cultivation subsequently increased from 246,000 acres in 1861 to 800,000 acres in the 1880s. Wool production also continued to grow, and by the 1880s New South Wales produced almost half of Australia's wool. Coal had been discovered in the early years of settlement and gold in 1851, and by the 1890s wool, gold and coal were the main exports of the colony.<ref>Kingston, Beverley (2006). pp. 57, 62, 64, 67</ref>

The NSW economy also became more diversified. From the 1860s, New South Wales had more people employed in manufacturing than any other Australian colony. The NSW government also invested strongly in infrastructure such as railways, telegraph, roads, ports, water and sewerage. By 1889 it was possible to travel by train from Brisbane to Adelaide via Sydney and Melbourne. The extension of the rail network inland also encouraged regional industries and the development of the [[Wheatbelt (Australia)|wheat belt]].<ref>Kingston, Beverley (2006). pp. 63, 76–77, 104</ref>

In the 1880s trade unions grew and were extended to lower skilled workers. In 1890 a strike in the shipping industry spread to wharves, railways, mines, and shearing sheds. The defeat of the strike was one of the factors leading the [[NSW Trades and Labor Council|Trades and Labor Council]] to form a political party. The [[NSW Labor Party|Labor Electoral League]] won a quarter of seats in the NSW elections of 1891 and held the balance of power between the [[Free Trade Party]] and the [[Protectionist Party]].<ref>Kingston, Beverley (2006). pp. 91–94</ref><ref>Hirst, John (2014). pp. 83–86</ref>

The [[suffragette]] movement was developing at this time. The [[Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales]] was founded in 1891.<ref>{{Citation |last=Godden |first=Judith |title=Pottie, Eliza (1837–1907) |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/pottie-eliza-13155 |access-date=27 February 2021 |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University}}</ref>