Electoral district of Brighton (Tasmania)

The electoral district of Brighton was a single-member electoral district of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. It extended from the town of Brighton to the north of Hobart.

The seat was created ahead of the Assembly's first election held in 1856, and was abolished at the 1903 election, when it was merged with neighbouring Richmond into the new district of Monmouth.

The election on 22 May 1891 resulted in the defeat of the incumbent member, Henry Mugliston, by Thomas Dillon. Mugliston petitioned the court alleging Dillon had engaged in corrupt practices and bribery during the campaign and on 25 July 1891, Dillon's election was declared void under the Electoral Act 1890. Neither candidate ran in the resulting by-election on 12 August 1891, and Henry Dobson, who was aligned with Mugliston, won against non-aligned candidate Thomas Hodgman. Barely a year later, following the fall of Philip Fysh's government, Dobson became Premier of Tasmania, a role in which he served for 20 months.

Members for Brighton

Member Term
Henry Butler 1856–1862
John Hayes 1862–1866
Henry Butler 1866–1885
Alfred Lord 1885–1886
Henry Mugliston 1886–1891
Thomas Dillon 1891–1891
Henry Dobson 1891–1900
Thomas Hodgman 1900–1903

References

  • Newman, Terry (1994). Representation of the Tasmanian People. Tasmanian Parliamentary Library. ISBN 0-7246-4147-5.
  • Hughes, Colin A.; Graham, B. D. (1976). Voting for the South Australian, Western Australian and Tasmanian Lower Houses, 1890-1964. Canberra: Australian National University. ISBN 0-7081-1334-6.
  • Parliament of Tasmania (2006). The Parliament of Tasmania from 1956 Archived 8 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine