Electoral district of Goldfields North

{{Short description|Former state electoral district of New South Wales, Australia}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2014}}

{{Use Australian English|date=October 2014}}

Goldfields North was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales from 1859 to 1880, including the goldfields within several northern electorates.{{NSW Parliamentary Record |part=5B |access-date=18 December 2019}}{{cite web |title=Former Members |work=Members of Parliament |publisher=Parliament of New South Wales |url=https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/members/formermembers/pages/former-members-index.aspx |access-date=12 December 2019}}{{cite NSW election|title=Elections for the District of Goldfields North|year=DistrictIndexes|district=Goldfields North|access-date=15 September 2020}} Rolls were not kept for goldfields seats, voters being able to establish their right to vote by presenting either a mining licence or business licence in a proclaimed gold field that had been held for at least six months. Voters could also appear on the roll for general districts, but were prevented from voting in both their resident general district and the overlaying goldfields district.{{cite book |last=Clune |first=David |editor-last=Green |editor-first=Antony |editor-link=Antony Green |editor2=Michael Hogan | title=The Electoral Atlas of New South Wales |publisher=New South Wales Department of Lands |year=2007 | isbn=978-0-9752354-2-3}} This meant that voters could vote tactically, if their candidate was unopposed—as James Hoskins was in the 1860 election—or their preferred candidate was assured of election, they could vote in the other electorate.{{cite book|title=New England Politics 1856–1865

|publisher=Unpublished BA thesis

|first=John

|last=Caldwell

|author-link=John Caldwell (demographer)

|date=1958}}