Legislative Assembly

New Houses of Parliament, 1854. State Library of Victoria Collection, Designed under the general instructions of Captn Charles Pasley, R.E. Commissioner of Public Works. Architects Messrs Lynght & Kerr (H18179)

The Legislative Assembly is the Lower House of the Parliament of Victoria.

Establishment

Victoria was proclaimed a Colony on 1 July 1851 separating from the Colony of New South Wales by an act of the British Parliament. The Legislative Assembly was created on 13 March 1856 with the passing of the Victorian Electoral Bill, five years after the creation of the original unicameral Legislative Council. The Assembly first met on 21 November 1856, and consisted of sixty members representing thirty-seven multi and single-member electorates. On the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901, the Parliament of Victoria continued except that the colony was now called a state.^[1]