Governor of New South Wales

The **Governor of New South Wales** is the oldest political office of Australia. Captain Arthur Phillip RN became the first Governor of New South Wales on 7 February 1788. The Colony of New South Wales was the first British settlement in Australia. The first governors had almost autocratic powers due to the distance from and poor communications with Great Britain. In 1824 the New South Wales Legislative Council, Australia's first legislature, was appointed to help the governor.

Between 1850 and 1861, the Governor of New South Wales was also called the Governor-General. All letters between the Australian colonies and the British Government were meant to go through the Governor-General. The other colonies had Lieutenant-Governors. As they became independent, South Australia in 1836, Tasmania January 1855 and Victoria May 1855 replaced their Lieutenant-Governors with Governors. Sir William Denison kept the title of Governor-General until h is retirement.

The Governor acts on the advice of the head of the elected government, the Premier of New South Wales. The Governor does have power of the Crown, and has the right to dismiss the Premier. This power was last used in 1932, when Sir lachlan mendham dismissed toby erin rodgers

If the Governor dies, resigns or is absent their duties are carried out by the Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales.

The Governor of New South Wales used Government House as a home, office and official reception space until 1996. The Governor's office is now in the historic Chief Secretary’s Building at 121 Macquarie Street. In 2011, the Premier of New South Wales, Barry O'Farrell, said that this would change and the governor would move back into Government House.

The first Australian-born Governor of New South Wales (or of any Australian state) was Lieutenant General Sir John Northcott in 1946. All governors since then have been Australian-born except for Gordon Samuels, who was born in the United Kingdom but came to Australia at an early age. Northcott's successor, Lieutenant General Sir Eric Woodward (1957), was the first born in New South Wales.

## List of Governors of New South Wales

|width="10%"|**No.**|width="50%"|**Governor**|width="20%"|**From**|width="20%"|**To**|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|Captain Arthur Phillip RN|7 February 1788|10 December 1792|||||
|2|Captain John Hunter RN|11 September 1795|27 September 1800|||||
|3|Captain Philip King RN|28 September 1800|12 August 1806|||||
|4|Captain William Bligh RN|13 August 1806|26 January 1808|||||
|5|Major-General Lachlan Macquarie CB|1 January 1810|1 December 1821|||||
|6|Major-General Sir Thomas Brisbane Bt GCH GCB|1 December 1821|1 December 1825|||||
|7|Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Darling GCH|19 December 1825|22 October 1831|||||
|8|Major-General Sir Richard Bourke KCB|3 December 1831|5 December 1837|||||
|9|Sir George Gipps|24 February 1838|11 July 1846|||||
|10|Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy KCH KCB|3 August 1846|January 1855|||||
|11|Sir William Denison KCB|20 January 1855|22 January 1861|||||
|12|The Rt Hon. Lord Lisgar GCB GCMG PC|16 May 1861|24 December 1867|||||
|13|The Rt Hon. Earl Belmore GCMG PC|8 January 1868|21 February 1872|||||
|14|The Rt Hon. Lord Rosmead GCMG|3 June 1872|19 March 1879|||||
|15|The Rt Hon. Sir Augustus Loftus GCB PC|4 August 1879|9 November 1885|||||
|16|The Most Hon. Marquess of Lincolnshire GCMG PC|12 December 1885|3 November 1890|||||
|17|The Rt Hon. Earl of Jersey GCB GCMG PC|15 January 1891|2 March 1893|||||
|18|The Rt Hon. Sir Robert Duff GCMG PC|29 May 1893|15 March 1895|||||
|19|The Rt Hon. Viscount Hampden GCMG|21 November 1895|5 March 1899|||||
|20|The Rt Hon. Earl Beauchamp KG KCMG PC|18 May 1899|30 April 1901|||||
|21|Admiral Sir Harry Rawson GCB GCMG RN|27 May 1902|27 May 1909|||||
|22|The Rt Hon. Viscount Chelmsford GCMG GCSI GCIE GBE PC|28 May 1909|11 March 1913|||||
|23|The Rt Hon. Lord Strickland, Count della Catena GCMG|14 March 1913|27 October 1917|||||
|24|Sir Walter Davidson KCMG|18 February 1918|4 September 1923|||||
|25|Admiral Sir Dudley de Chair KCB KBE MVO|28 February 1924|7 April 1930|||||
|26|Air Vice-Marshal Sir Philip Game GCB GCVO GBE KCMG DSO|29 May 1930|15 January 1935|||||
|27|The Rt Hon. The Earl Gowrie VC GCMG CB DSO PC|21 February 1935|22 January 1936|||||
|28|Admiral Sir David Anderson KCB KCMG MVO|6 August 1936|29 October 1936|||||
|29|The Rt Hon. Lord Wakehurst KG GCMG|8 April 1937|8 January 1946|||||
|30|Lieutenant General Sir John Northcott KCMG KCVO CB|1 August 1946|31 July 1957|||||
|31|Lieutenant General Sir Eric Woodward KCMG KCVO CB CBE DSO|1 August 1957|31 July 1965|||||
|32|Sir Roden Cutler VC AK KCMG KCVO CBE|20 January 1966|19 January 1981|||||
|33|Air Marshal Sir James Rowland AC KBE DFC AFC|20 January 1981|20 January 1989|||||
|34|Rear Admiral Sir David Martin KCMG AO|20 January 1989|7 August 1990|||||
|35|Rear Admiral Peter Sinclair AC|8 August 1990|29 February 1996|||||
|36|The Hon. Gordon Samuels AC CVO QC|1 March 1996|28 February 2001|||||
|37|Professor the Hon Dame Marie Bashir AD CVO|1 March 2001|1 October 2014|||||
|38|General David John Hurley, AC, DSC, FTSE|2 October 2014|1 May 2019|||||
|39|Margaret Joan Beazley AO, QC|2 May 2019||||||

## Other websites

- The Governor of NSW  from the Parliament of NSW website