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.NSW Parliament. History of the Legislative Council . Accessed 10 August 2007.

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 

 No. Governor From To1 Captain Arthur Phillip RN  7 February 178810 December 17922 Captain John Hunter RN 11 September 1795 27 September 18003 Captain Philip King RN 28 September 1800 12 August 18064 Captain William Bligh RN 13 August 1806 26 January 18085 Major-General Lachlan Macquarie CB  1 January 1810   1 December 18216 Major-General Sir Thomas Brisbane Bt GCH GCB 1 December 1821   1 December 18257 Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Darling GCH 19 December 1825  22 October 18318 Major-General Sir Richard Bourke KCB 3 December 1831  5 December 18379 Sir George Gipps  24 February 1838   11 July 184610 Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy KCH KCB 3 August 1846 January 185511 Sir William Denison KCB 20 January 1855  22 January 186112 The Rt Hon. Lord Lisgar GCB GCMG PC 16 May 1861  24 December 186713 The Rt Hon. Earl Belmore GCMG PC 8 January 1868   21 February 187214 The Rt Hon. Lord Rosmead GCMG 3 June 1872 19 March 187915 The Rt Hon. Sir Augustus Loftus GCB PC 4 August 1879  9 November 188516 The Most Hon. Marquess of Lincolnshire GCMG PC 12 December 1885  3 November 189017 The Rt Hon. Earl of Jersey GCB GCMG PC 15 January 1891 2 March 189318 The Rt Hon. Sir Robert Duff GCMG PC 29 May 1893  15 March 189519 The Rt Hon. Viscount Hampden GCMG 21 November 1895   5 March 189920 The Rt Hon. Earl Beauchamp KG KCMG PC 18 May 1899  30 April 190121 Admiral Sir Harry Rawson GCB GCMG RN 27 May 1902  27 May 190922 The Rt Hon. Viscount Chelmsford GCMG GCSI GCIE GBE PC 28 May 1909 11 March 191323 The Rt Hon. Lord Strickland, Count della Catena GCMG 14 March 1913  27 October 191724 Sir Walter Davidson KCMG 18 February 1918  4 September 192325 Admiral Sir Dudley de Chair KCB KBE MVO 28 February 1924  7 April 193026 Air Vice-Marshal Sir Philip Game GCB GCVO GBE KCMG DSO 29 May 1930  15 January 193527 The Rt Hon. The Earl Gowrie VC GCMG CB DSO PC 21 February 1935  22 January 193628 Admiral Sir David Anderson KCB KCMG MVO 6 August 1936  29 October 193629 The Rt Hon. Lord Wakehurst KG GCMG 8 April 1937   8 January 194630 Lieutenant General Sir John Northcott KCMG KCVO CB 1 August 1946  31 July 195731 Lieutenant General Sir Eric Woodward KCMG KCVO CB CBE DSO 1 August 1957 31 July 196532 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 198934 Rear Admiral Sir David Martin KCMG AO 20 January 1989 7 August 199035 Rear Admiral Peter Sinclair AC 8 August 1990  29 February 199636 The Hon. Gordon Samuels AC CVO QC 1 March 1996 28 February 200137 Professor the Hon Dame Marie Bashir AD CVO 1 March 2001  1 October 201438 General David John Hurley, AC, DSC, FTSE 2 October 2014 1 May 201939 Margaret Joan Beazley AO, QC 2 May 2019

References

Other websites
 The Governor of NSW  from the Parliament of NSW website