Work in small groups for this activity.

Introduction

Victoria's Constitution can be changed if a majority of Members of Parliament in both the Council and the Assembly agree to the change. This has happened many times in Victoria's history.

If you want to see the types of changes that have been made to Victoria's Constitution since 1975 you can do this by skimming pages 145 - 154 of the constitution at www.parliament.vic.gov.au/const.html.

Some of these changes (since 1855 as well as since 1975) were major and some were minor. For example, some changes might have been a change in the salary level of people like judges. Other changes were major changes such as those that allowed more people to vote or stand as a candidate at an election.

Activity 1: When could my person first vote and stand for election?

In earlier activities you had to use the key dates on the Parliament of Victoria website to help you decide when each of seven people got to vote for the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. You also found out when each of these people could stand as a candidate for the Assembly and for the Council.

The seven people you are investigating in your group are:

• Lucy Bell
• Thomas Henty
• William Barak
• Elias Andrews
• John Chandler
• Frederick Thomas Sargood
• William Foster Stawell

Read the information sheet, 'Acts of Parliament about Voting and becoming a Member of Parliament'. Use this sheet to check information found earlier that indicated when your person could first:

• vote for the legislative Council
• vote for the Legislative Assembly
• stand as a candidate for the Legislative Council
• stand as a candidate for the Legislative Assembly.

Activity 2: What were the Acts? What did each Act do?

You want to know more about the acts which were important for your person. To do this:

• revisit the information sheet, 'Acts of Parliament about Voting and becoming a Member of Parliament'
• look at the main clauses of each act important for your person.

In most cases you will have four acts to look at. Clue: Use the year in which each act became law to help you work out which Acts of Parliament you need to use.

For each Act of Parliament:

• Write out the full name or title of the act
• Find out who was king or queen when the act was passed
• Visit www.parliament.vic.gov.au/history/minis.cfm. Find out who was the Premier of Victoria at this time, the period of time and number of days for which he or she was Premier.
• Read the sections on the information sheet that describe the main clauses of the act. View the images from the actual act and see how many of these clauses you can find written in legal language. To help you to do this, download a copy of the information sheet and the four acts that are important to your person. Cut these up and match the parts. Underline or use a highlighter to identify key words, phrases or sentences in the actual acts.

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• Introductory activities
• Investigating the past
• Visiting the exhibition
• Going further
• Extension activities

• Victoria's current Constitution
• Towards responsible government
• Lucy Bell
• Thomas Henty
• William Barak
• Elias Andrews
• John Chandler
• Frederick Thomas Sargood
• William Foster Stawell
• Information sheet: Acts of Parliament about Voting and becoming a Member of Parliament
• Victorian Ministries Since Responsible Government, 1855 - Current