# Electoral results for the district of Sydney City

Sydney City, an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, had two incarnations, from 1950 until 1971 and from 1988 until 1999.
| Election | Member | Party | Member | Party | Member | Party | Member | Party |
| 1856 | Henry Parkes | None | James Wilshire | None | Robert Campbell | None | Charles Cowper | None |
| Sep 1856 by | Henry Parkes | None | James Wilshire | None | Robert Campbell | None | Charles Cowper | None |
| Dec 1856 by | William Dalley | None | James Wilshire | None | Robert Campbell | None | Charles Cowper | None |
| 1858 | Robert Tooth | None | George Thornton | None | Robert Campbell | None | Charles Cowper | None |

## Election results
### 1858

1858 New South Wales colonial election: Sydney City 15 January :
| Candidate | Candidate | Votes | % |
| George Thornton (elected 1) | George Thornton (elected 1) | 3,666 | 21.4 |
| Robert Tooth (elected 2) | Robert Tooth (elected 2) | 2,411 | 14.1 |
| Robert Campbell (re-elected 3) | Robert Campbell (re-elected 3) | 2,158 | 12.6 |
| Charles Cowper (re-elected 4) | Charles Cowper (re-elected 4) | 2,099 | 12.2 |
| William Dalley (defeated) | William Dalley (defeated) | 2,035 | 11.9 |
| Frank Fowler | Frank Fowler | 1,762 | 10.3 |
| James Wilshire (defeated) | James Wilshire (defeated) | 1,557 | 18.7 |
| William Allen | William Allen | 1,474 | 8.6 |
| Total formal votes | Total formal votes | 17,164 | 100.0 |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | 0 | 0.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | 17,164 | 39.7 |

### December 1856 by-election

1856 Sydney City by-election Tuesday 30 December :
| Candidate | Candidate | Votes | % |
| William Dalley (elected) | William Dalley (elected) | 1,998 | 57.2 |
| John Fairfax | John Fairfax | 1,493 | 42.8 |
| Total formal votes | Total formal votes | 3,491 | 100.0 |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | 0 | 0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | 3,491 | 25.2 |

### September 1856 by-election

1856 Sydney City by-election Thursday 4 September :
| Candidate | Candidate | Votes | % |
| Charles Cowper (re-elected 1) | Charles Cowper (re-elected 1) | 1,993 | 45.6 |
| Robert Campbell (re-elected 2) | Robert Campbell (re-elected 2) | 1,831 | 41.9 |
| Thomas Duigan | Thomas Duigan | 542 | 12.4 |
| Total formal votes | Total formal votes | 4,366 | 100.0 |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | 0 | 0.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | 2,183 | 15.7 |

### 1856

1856 New South Wales colonial election: Sydney City :
| Candidate | Candidate | Votes | % |
| Charles Cowper (elected 1) | Charles Cowper (elected 1) | 3,073 | 20.5 |
| Henry Parkes (elected 2) | Henry Parkes (elected 2) | 3,057 | 20.4 |
| Robert Campbell (elected 3) | Robert Campbell (elected 3) | 3,041 | 20.33 |
| James Wilshire (elected 4) | James Wilshire (elected 4) | 2,901 | 19.4 |
| John Plunkett | John Plunkett | 2,800 | 18.7 |
| Thomas Duigan | Thomas Duigan | 89 | 0.6 |
| Total formal votes | Total formal votes | 14,961 | 100.0 |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | 0 | 0.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | 6,007 | 43.3 |
Cowper, Parkes, Campbell and Wilshire had been endorsed as a group by a public meeting to be elected to the four vacancies. Parkes, Campbell and Wilshire all represented City of Sydney in the Legislative Council while Cowper represented County of Durham. There were no political parties at the time and the combination of candidates, pejoratively referred to by Plunkett as "The Bunch", was controversial. Plunket, who had been an appointed member of the Council, campaigned on the slogan "plump for Plunket", a reference to the voting practice of voting for a single candidate rather than the four candidates an elector was entitled to vote for.