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.^[1]

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.^[2]

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.^[3]

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	To
1	Captain Arthur Phillip RN ^[4]	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

Governor Of New South Wales Media

Sir John Northcott, the first Australian-born governor (1946–57).
Lord Wakehurst takes the oath of office upon his arrival in Sydney in 1937.
The First Fleet in Botany Bay at voyage's end in 1788. Its arrival marked the establishment of the colony of New South Wales and the office of the governor.
The copy of the Australia Act 1986 (UK) bearing the Queen's signature, now displayed in Canberra
Government House, Sydney, the official residence of the governor
"Old" Government House, Parramatta.
Arthur Phillip - Project Gutenberg eText 12992
John Hunter (* 1737; † 1821), Gouverneur von New South Wales.
Philip Gidley King - Project Gutenberg eText 12992
Portrait of Rear Admiral William Bligh by Alexander Huey, en:1814