LETTERS PATENT, APPOINTMENT OF SEPTIMUS BURT AS ATTORNEY GENERAL

As Attorney-General Burt drafted most of the legislation during the early 1890s, a time of significant political and social reform. Western Australia had only just been granted full self-government by Westminster in 1890, the first elections under the new constitution having been held in December 1890. Burt also assumed the role of acting premier when Sir John Forrest was absent from the State. This document is of historic significance due to it being the legal instrument, issued on behalf of the monarch, by which Septimus Burt acted as Attorney General during a critical period in the state's history. It is also representative of official documentation of the era used to administer a colony of the British Empire, and is complete and in original condition. It was issued on the same day as the Commission appointing Burt as a member of the Executive Council of Western Australia.

The Honourable Septimus Burt KC (1847-1919), son of Sir Archibald Paull Burt, was born in St Kitts Island (formerly known as St Christopher in the West Indies) and came to Western Australia in 1861. S Burt became a prominent lawyer, politician and grazier. His political work was central to the achievement and development of the Western Australian constitution as the first Attorney General after self-government was achieved. The Hon Septimus Burt rejected knighthood and offers to be a Supreme Court Judge.