# List of administrative heads of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands

This is a list of the administrative heads of Cocos (Keeling) Islands since 23 November 1955, when it became an external territory of the Commonwealth of Australia.
| Ordinal | Officeholder | Title | Term start | Term end | Time in office | Notes |
| Cocos (Keeling) Islands Territory of the Commonwealth of Australia |||||||
| 1 | H. J. Hull | Official Representative of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 23 November 1955 | 13 November 1957 | |
| 2 | C. H. Cox | Acting Official Representative of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 14 December 1957 | 13 March 1958 | |
| 3 | John William Stokes | Official Representative of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 8 November 1958 | 27 July 1960 | |
| 4 | Charles Ivens Buffett | Official Representative of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 27 July 1960 | 17 April 1966 | |
| 5 | P. L. Ryan | Official Representative of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 18 April 1966 | 19 June 1966 | |
| 6 | Peter C. Burbrook | Official Representative of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 20 June 1966 | 25 June 1969 | |
| 7 | C. W. Suthern | Official Representative of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 26 June 1969 | 28 July 1972 | |
| 8 | C. McManus | Official Representative of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 29 July 1972 | 16 July 1975 | |
| 9 | Robert James Linford | Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 23 July 1975 | 15 November 1977 | |
| 10 | Charles Ivens Buffett | Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 16 November 1977 | 25 July 1979 | |
| Granted autonomy from the Commonwealth of Australia |||||||
| (10) | Charles Ivens Buffett | Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 25 July 1979 | 31 December 1981 | | (contd.) |
| 11 | Eric Herbert Hanfield | Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 21 April 1982 | 22 November 1983 | |
| 12 | Kenneth Chan | Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 14 December 1983 | 6 April 1984 | |
| Integrated with Australia in an act of self-determination (see 1984 status referendum) |||||||
| (12) | Kenneth Chan | Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 6 April 1984 | 19 November 1985 | | (contd.) |
| 13 | Carolyn Stuart | Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 20 November 1985 | December 1987 | |
| − | W. N. Syrette | Acting Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | January 1988 | 30 June 1988 | |
| − | M. Jopling | Acting Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 1 July 1988 | 7 November 1988 | |
| 14 | Dawn Lawrie | Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 8 November 1988 | 27 November 1990 |
| 15 | Barry T. Cunningham | Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 1 December 1990 | 4 December 1992 | |
| 16 | John Bell Read | Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 5 December 1992 | 4 December 1994 | |
| − | Danny Ambrose Gillespie | Acting Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 4 December 1994 | 31 January 1995 | |
| 17 | Martin Mowbray | Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 1 February 1995 | 30 January 1996 | |
| − | Jarl Andersson | Acting Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 1 February 1996 | 1 July 1996 | |
| Part of Australian Indian Ocean Territories of the Commonwealth of Australia |||||||
| (−) | Jarl Andersson | Acting Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) IslandsActing Administrator of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories | 1 July 1996 | 12 April 1997 | | (contd.) |
| 18 | Maureen Ellis | Acting Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) IslandsActing Administrator of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories | 12 April 1997 | 30 September 1997 | |
| 19 | Ronald George Harvey | Acting Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) IslandsActing Administrator of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories | 1 October 1997 (1997-10-01) | 30 October 1998 (1998-10-30) | 1 year, 29 days | |
| − | Graham Nicholls | Acting Administrator of the Cocos (Keeling) IslandsActing Administrator of Christmas IslandActing Administrator of Australian Indian Ocean Territories | 1 November 1998 (1998-11-01) | 3 February 1999 (1999-02-03) | 94 days | |
| 20 | William "Bill" Leonard Taylor | Administrator of the Cocos (Keeling) IslandsAdministrator of Christmas IslandAdministrator of Australian Indian Ocean Territories | 4 February 1999 (1999-02-04) | 30 July 2003 (2003-07-30) | 4 years, 176 days | |
| − | Ray Stone | Acting Administrator of the Cocos (Keeling) IslandsActing Administrator of Christmas IslandActing Administrator of Australian Indian Ocean Territories | 31 July 2003 (2003-07-31) | 1 November 2003 (2003-11-01) | 93 days | |
| 21 | Evan Williams | Administrator of the Cocos (Keeling) IslandsAdministrator of Christmas IslandAdministrator of Australian Indian Ocean Territories | 1 November 2003 (2003-11-01) | 31 October 2005 (2005-10-31) | 2 years, 92 days | |
| 22 | Neil Lucas | Administrator of the Cocos (Keeling) IslandsAdministrator of Christmas IslandAdministrator of Australian Indian Ocean Territories | 30 January 2006 (2006-01-30) | 22 February 2008 (2008-02-22) | 2 years, 23 days | |
| − | Julian Yates | Acting Administrator of the Cocos (Keeling) IslandsActing Administrator of Christmas IslandActing Administrator of Australian Indian Ocean Territories | 22 February 2008 (2008-02-22) | 28 February 2008 (2008-02-28) | 6 days | |
| − | Sheryl Klaffer | Acting Administrator of the Cocos (Keeling) IslandsActing Administrator of Christmas IslandActing Administrator of Australian Indian Ocean Territories | 28 February 2009 (2009-02-28) | 2009 (2009) | 0 years | |
| − | Stephen Clay | Acting Administrator of the Cocos (Keeling) IslandsActing Administrator of Christmas IslandActing Administrator of Australian Indian Ocean Territories | 2009 (2009) | 5 October 2009 (2009-10-05) | 0 years | |
| 23 | Brian James Lacy | Administrator of the Cocos (Keeling) IslandsAdministrator of Christmas IslandAdministrator of Australian Indian Ocean Territories | 5 October 2009 (2009-10-05) | 29 September 2012 (2012-09-29) | 2 years, 360 days | |
| 24 | Jon Stanhope | Administrator of the Cocos (Keeling) IslandsAdministrator of Christmas IslandAdministrator of Australian Indian Ocean Territories | 5 October 2012 (2012-10-05) | 6 October 2014 (2014-10-06) | 2 years, 1 day | |
| 25 | Barry Haase | Administrator of the Cocos (Keeling) IslandsAdministrator of Christmas IslandAdministrator of Australian Indian Ocean Territories | 6 October 2014 (2014-10-06) | incumbent | 10 years, 154 days | |