Governors of New South Wales

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Governors of New South Wales

The Governor of New South Wales is the representative in the Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
n state of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is Australia's oldest and most populous States and territories of Australia, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria and south of Queensland....
of Australia's monarch

Monarchy in Australia

The monarchy of Australia is a form of government in which a hereditary monarch is the Sovereignty of Australia. The monarchy is a constitutional monarchy one modelled on the Westminster system of parliamentary government, incorporating features unique to the Constitution of Australia....
, Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Elizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known as the Commonwealth realms: Monarchy of the United Kingdom, Monarchy of Canada, Monarchy of Australia, Monarchy of New Zealand, Monarchy of Jamaica, Monarchy of Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Monarchy of the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Sain...
, Queen of Australia. The Governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the Governor-General of Australia

Governor-General of Australia

The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia of the Monarchy of Australia . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth....
at the national level.

Aside from the Body Politic of the Crown (i.e. the Queen of Australia), the office of Governor of New South Wales is the oldest constitutional office in Australia.

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Encyclopedia

The Governor of New South Wales is the representative in the Australia

Australia

New South Wales

Monarchy in Australia

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Governor-General of Australia

Arthur Phillip

Admiral Arthur Phillip Royal Navy was a British naval Admiraland colonial administrator. Phillip was appointed Governors of New South Wales of New South Wales, the first European colony on the Australian continent, and was the founder of the site which is now the city of Sydney....
assumed office as Governor of New South Wales on 7 February 1788, when the Colony of New South Wales, the first British settlement in Australia, was formally founded. The early colonial governors held an almost autocratic power due to the distance from and poor communications with Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
, until 1824 when the New South Wales Legislative Council

New South Wales Legislative Council

The New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales of New South Wales in Australia....
, Australia's first legislative body, was appointed to advise the governor.

Between 1850 and 1861, the Governor of New South Wales was titled Governor-General in an early attempt at federalism imposed by Earl Grey

Earl Grey

Earl Grey is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1806 for the General Charles Grey, 1st Earl Grey. He had already been created Baron Grey, of Howick in the County of Northumberland, in 1801, and was made Viscount Howick, in the County of Northumberland, at the same time as he was given the earldom....
. All communication between the Australian colonies and the British Government was meant to go through the Governor-General, and the other colonies had Lieutenant-Governors. As Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

File:Map Victoria Aboriginal tribes .jpgVictoria is a States and territories of Australia located in the southeastern corner of Australia. It is the smallest mainland state in area but the most Population density and urbanised....
, South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a States and territories of Australia of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories....
and Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and States and territories of Australia of the same name. It is located south of the eastern side of the continent, being separated from it by Bass Strait....
obtained responsible government, their Lieutenant-Governors were replaced by Governors. Although he had ceased acting as a Governor-General, Sir William Denison

William Denison

Sir William Thomas Denison, Order of the Bath was Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land from 1847 to 1855, Governor of New South Wales from 20 January 1855 to 22 January 1861, and Governor of Madras from 1861 to 1866....
retained the title until his retirement. In accordance with the conventions of the Westminster system

Westminster System

The Westminster system is a Democracy parliamentary system of government modelled after the British government . The term comes from the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the UK Parliament....
of parliamentary government, the Governor nearly always acts solely on the advice of the head of the elected government, the Premier of New South Wales

Premiers of New South Wales

Before the 1890s, there was no formal party system in New South Wales. Party labels before that time indicate a general tendency only. In the 1860s and 1870s, there was a fairly coherent "liberal" tendency, led first by Charles Cowper and then by Henry Parkes....
. Nevertheless, the Governor retains the reserve powers of the Crown, and has the right to dismiss the Premier. This power was last exercised in 1932, when Sir Philip Game

Philip Game

Air Vice-Marshal Sir Philip Woolcott Game Order of the Bath, Royal Victorian Order, Order of the British Empire, Order of St Michael and St George, Distinguished Service Order was a British Royal Air Force commander, who later served as Governors of New South Wales of New South Wales, Australia, and Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis o...
dismissed Jack Lang

Jack Lang (Australian politician)

John Thomas Lang , Australian politician, usually referred to as J. T. Lang during his career, familiarly known as "Jack" and nicknamed "The Big Fella," was Premiers of New South Wales for two terms ....
.

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

Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales

The Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales is a government position in the state of New South Wales, Australia, acting as a deputy to the Governor of New South Wales....
.

The Governor of New South Wales previously used Government House

Government House, Sydney

Government House is located in Sydney just south of the Sydney Opera House, and overlooks Sydney Harbour. It was the official residence and remains the official reception space of the Governor of New South Wales, Australia....
as a residence, office and official reception space. However, in 1996, at the direction of Premier Bob Carr, the Governor has not used it as a residence. The Governor's present day office is the historic Chief Secretary’s Building

Chief Secretary’s Building

The Chief Secretary?s Building is an historic Sydney, Australia landmark located at 121 Macquarie Street, Sydney, 65 Bridge Street and 44-50 Phillip Street....
nearby, at 121 Macquarie Street. See Governors of the Australian states

Governors of the Australian states

The Governors of the Australian states are the representatives in the six states of Australia of Australia's monarch, Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom....
for a description and history of the office of Governor.

The first Australian-born Governor of New South Wales (or of any Australian state) was Lieutenant General Sir John Northcott

John Northcott

Lieutenant General Sir John Northcott Order of St Michael and St George, Royal Victorian Order, Order of the Bath, was an Australian Army general who served as List of senior officers of the Australian Army during World War II, commanded the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Occupied Japan, and was Governor of New South Wales....
(appointed 1946). All subsequent governors of NSW have been Australian-born except for Gordon Samuels

Gordon Samuels

Gordon Jacob Samuels, Order of Australia, Royal Victorian Order, Queen's Counsel, Venerable Order of Saint John , was Governor of New South Wales from 1 March 1996 to 1 March 2001....
, who was born in the United Kingdom but emigrated to Australia at an early age. Northcott's successor, Lieutenant General Sir Eric Woodward

Eric Woodward

Lieutenant General Sir Eric Winslow Woodward Order of St Michael and St George, Royal Victorian Order, Order of the Bath, Order of the British Empire, Distinguished Service Order was the Governor of New South Wales from 1 August 1957 to 1 August 1965....
(appointed 1957), was the first born in New South Wales.

List of Governors of New South Wales
New South Wales

New South Wales is Australia's oldest and most populous States and territories of Australia, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria and south of Queensland....

Living former governors

Currently, only one former governor is alive. The most recent governor to die was Gordon Samuels

Gordon Samuels

Name	Term as governor	Date of birth
Peter Sinclair	1990–1996	1930

Governors of New South Wales

List of Governors of New South WalesNew South WalesNew South Wales is Australia's oldest and most populous States and territories of Australia, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria and south of Queensland....

Living former governors

List of Governors of New South Wales
New South Wales

New South Wales is Australia's oldest and most populous States and territories of Australia, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria and south of Queensland....