University of Sydney was a former electoral district

New South Wales Legislative Assembly electoral districts

The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is elected from 93 single-member electorates called districts.- Current districts :This is a list of districts for the 2011 state election.* Albury* Auburn* Ballina...

 of the Legislative Assembly

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

 in the Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n state of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 from 1876 to 1880. It was established in the 1858 redistribution to be elected by graduates of the University of Sydney

University of Sydney

The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...

 once there were 100 eligible electors. (see The Electoral Atlas of New South Wales

The Electoral Atlas of New South Wales

- The Atlas :Although NSW has been mapped since the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 there is no existing atlas that gives an opportunity to explore the development of responsible government since its inception in NSW in 1856...

)

Under the 1858 Electoral Act, the University of Sydney was entitled to a seat in the Legislative Assembly, elected by graduates, once there was a body of 100 graduates. The University petitioned the governor in 1876 for the creation of a seat, listing the names of 10 Doctors of Law, 9 Doctors of Medicine and 92 Masters of Arts who were living in the colony. The Chancellor and Returning Officer Edward Deas-Thomson published a notice for the election, with polling taking place in the ante-room adjoining the Great Hall. Underneath, Registrar Hugh Kennedy published the following note. ' As it appears that there is no legal necessity for members of the University who take part in the Election of a Representative to appear in academic costume, they will not be required to do so; but they are requested, if they conveniently can, to comply with the customary practice on such occasions.' Oddly, the next day the notice had been amended to say academic costume was 'required'.

Members for University of Sydney

Member		Party	Period
	William Windeyer William Charles Windeyer Sir William Charles Windeyer was an Australian politician and judge.As a New South Wales politician he was responsible for the creation of Belmore Park , Lang Park , Observatory Park Sir William Charles Windeyer (29 September 1834 – 11 September 1897) was an Australian politician and judge.As a...	None	1876—1879
	Edmund Barton Edmund Barton Sir Edmund Barton, GCMG, KC , Australian politician and judge, was the first Prime Minister of Australia and a founding justice of the High Court of Australia....	None	1879—1880