Administrator of the Northern Territory

The **Administrator of the Northern Territory** is the person selected by the Governor-General of Australia to act as the governor of the Northern Territory of Australia. The selection of Administrator is made by the Governor-General-in-Council, that is, the Governor-General acting on the _advice_ of the Australian government, not the advice of the Government of the Northern Territory.

The Northern Territory became self-governing on 1 July 1978. Now the Governor-General-in Council accepts a _recommendation_ from the Northern Territory Government. Unlike an Australian State Governor, the Administrator does not represent the Queen in the Territory. They represent the Governor-General who is the Queen's representative in the Commonwealth. The Administrator's role is to govern the Territory under the law which gave it self-government. The Administrator's constitutional role is almost the same as a State Governor and can be considered the Queen's _indirect_ representative in the Territory.

The office of the _Deputy of the Administrator_ was created in 1997.

The present Administrator is Sally Thomas, AM.

## South Australia (1846 to 1912)

The Northern Territory was part of South Australia from 1846 to 1912. The administrator was known as the Government Resident.

|width="10%"|No.|width="50%"|Government Resident|width="20%"|From|width="20%"|To|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy, KCH, KCB|21 February 1846|28 December 1846|||||
|2|The Hon. Boyle Finniss|3 March 1864|4 November 1865|||||
|3|William Bloomfield Douglas|27 April 1870|June 1873|||||
|4|George Byng Scott|6 October 1873|30 June 1876|||||
|5|Edward William Price|1 July 1876|6 March 1883|||||
|6|John Parsons|19 March 1884|14 February 1890|||||
|7|John Knight FRIBA|16 July 1890|10 January 1892|||||
|8|Charles James Dashwood|24 February 1892|31 January 1905|||||
|9|Charles Edward Herbert|1 February 1905|8 February 1910|||||
|10|The Hon. Samuel Mitchell|1 April 1910|25 March 1912|||||

## Commonwealth of Australia (1912 to present)

The Australian government took over control of the Northern Territory in 1912.

### Administrator (1912 to 1919)

|width="10%"|No.|width="50%"|Administrator|width="20%"|From|width="20%"|To|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|John Gilruth FRSE MRCVS|25 March 1912|1 August 1919|||||

### Director (1919 to 1921)

|width="10%"|No.|width="50%"|Director|width="20%"|From|width="20%"|To|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|Henry Ernest Carey|1 August 1919|17 January 1921|||||

### Administrator (1921 to 1927)

|width="10%"|No.|width="50%"|Administrator|width="20%"|From|width="20%"|To|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|Frederic Urquhart|17 January 1921|1 March 1927|||||

### Government Resident (1927 to 1931)

There was an experiment having an extra Government Resident (Central Australia) in Alice Springs based at The Residency. Alice Springs was known as Stuart Town from 1888 to 1933.

|width="10%"|No.|width="50%"|Government Resident (North_Australia)|width="20%"|From|width="20%"|To|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|Robert Weddell|1 March 1927|12 June 1931|||||

|width="10%"|No.|width="50%"|Government Resident (Central Australia)|width="20%"|From|width="20%"|To|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|John Cawood|1 March 1927|11 December 1929|||||
|2|Victor Carrington MBE|11 December 1929|12 June 1931|||||

### Administrator (1931 to present)

|width="10%"|No.|width="30%"|Administrator|width="20%"|Post- Nominal|width="20%"|From|width="20%"|To|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|Robert Weddell||12 June 1931|29 March 1937||||||
|2|The Hon. Aubrey Abbott||29 March 1937|1 July 1946||||||
|3|Arthur Driver|BEM|1 July 1946|1 July 1951||||||
|4|The Hon. Frank Wise|AO|1 July 1951|1 July 1956||||||
|5|James Archer|OBE|1 July 1956|1 April 1961||||||
|6|Roger Nott|CBE|1 April 1961|1 October 1964||||||
|7|Roger Dean|CBE|1 October 1964|4 March 1970||||||
|8|The Hon. Sir Frederick Chaney|KBE AFC|4 March 1970|10 December 1973||||||
|9|John Norman Nelson||10 December 1973|1 June 1978||||||
|10|John England|CMG|1 June 1978|1 January 1981||||||
|11|Commodore Eric Johnston|AO OBE RAN|1 January 1981|1 July 1989||||||
|12|The Hon. James Muirhead|AC QC|1 July 1989|1 March 1993||||||
|13|The Hon. Austin Asche|AC QC|1 March 1993|17 February 1997||||||
|14|Dr. Neil Conn|AO|17 February 1997|28 November 2000||||||
|15|John Anictomatis|AO|28 November 2000|30 October 2003||||||
|16|Ted Egan|AO|31 October 2003|31 October 2007||||||
|17|Tom Pauling|AO QC|31 October 2007|31 October 2011||||||
|18|Sally Thomas|AM|31 October 2011|Present||||||

## Deputy of the Administrator (1997 to present)

The office of the _Deputy of the Administrator_ was established in 1997.

|width="10%"|No.|width="50%"|Deputy of the Administrator|width="20%"|From|width="20%"|To|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|Minna Sitzler AM|17 February 1997|30 November 2001|||||
|2|Pat Miller AO|20 September 2002|present|||||

## Other websites

- Government House, Northern Territory, Office of the Administrator – official site