Governor of Queensland

The governor of Queensland is the representative in the state of Queensland of the monarch of Australia. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governor performs constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level. In particular the governor has the power to appoint and dismiss the premier of Queensland and all other ministers in the cabinet, and issue writs for the election of the state parliament.

Governor of Queensland
Badge of the Governor
Flag of the Governor
Incumbent
Jeannette Young AC PSM

since 1 November 2021
Viceregal
StyleHer Excellency The Honourable
ResidenceGovernment House, Brisbane
SeatBrisbane
NominatorPremier of Queensland
AppointerMonarch of Australia
on the advice of the Premier
Term lengthAt His Majesty's pleasure
(usually 5 years by convention)
Formation10 December 1859
First holderSir George Bowen
Salary£5,000 (1900)[lower-alpha 1]
Websitegovhouse.qld.gov.au

The current governor of Queensland, former Chief Health Officer of Queensland Jeannette Young, was sworn in on 1 November 2021.[2]

The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland, currently Helen Bowskill, acts in the position of governor in the governor’s absence. As from June 2014, Queen Elizabeth II, upon the recommendation of then-Premier Campbell Newman, accorded all current, future and living former governors the title 'The Honourable' in perpetuity.[3]

Official residence

The governor of Queensland has resided at Government House, Brisbane since 1910. The mansion, set in 14 hectares (35 acres) of gardens and bushland in the Brisbane suburb of Paddington, is also known as "Fernberg". Unlike Fernberg, the original Government House was purpose-built and was used from 1862 to 1910; the building still exists today on the grounds of Queensland University of Technology.

Constitutional provisions

The office of governor is established by the Constitution of Queensland. Section 29 of the Constitution as passed in 2001 provides that the office of governor must exist and be appointed by the sovereign, but parts of the earlier Constitution Act of 1867 relating to the governor are still in force owing to the double entrenchment of them within the constitution by the government of Joh Bjelke-Petersen, who feared that the office and powers of state governor might be abolished following the controversies of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis at a federal level.

In accordance with the conventions of the Westminster system of parliamentary government, the governor nearly always acts solely on the advice of the head of the elected government, the premier of Queensland. Nevertheless, the governor retains the reserve powers of the Crown, and has the right to appoint and dismiss ministers, issue pardons, and dissolve Parliament.

The Queensland constitution expressly provides that the governor "is not subject to direction by any person and is not limited as to the Governor's sources of advice" on the appointment or dismissal of ministers (s. 35), another provision inserted by the Bjelke-Petersen government in the wake of the 1975 federal dismissal. This provision worked against Bjelke-Petersen when, in the dying days of his government in November 1987, he tried and failed to convince Governor Sir Walter Campbell to remove several ministers to shore up his own support within Parliament. When the parliamentary wing of the National Party deposed Bjelke-Petersen and elected one of the dissident ministers, Mike Ahern, as the new leader of the National Party, Bjelke-Petersen initially refused to resign as premier and Sir Walter resisted calls to dismiss him. Bjelke-Petersen elected to resign on 1 December 1987.

The governor is head of the Executive Council, a Queensland equivalent to the Federal Executive Council. The Council is composed of ministers from the government of the day. The chief justice of Queensland and other judges in the Queensland judicial system are appointed by the governor acting on the advice of the Executive Council.

Governor's standard

The governor standard comprises a union jack with a white roundel in the center with the state badge of Queensland: a light blue Maltese cross, surmounted by a royal crown and surrounded by garland of laurel leaves.

The general design of standards for British governors was approved by Queen Victoria in 1869. The design for governors of Queensland was created and flown as a personal standard since 1876, when the Maltese Cross was adopted as the colonial badge.

If the standard is flying at Government House, on a vehicle or at an event, this indicates that the governor is present.

Past and present standards of the governor

List of governors of Queensland

The first Australian- (and Queensland-) born Governor of Queensland was Lieutenant-General Sir John Lavarack (appointed 1946). His successor, Sir Henry Abel Smith was British. All subsequent governors have been Australian-born, except for Leneen Forde, who was born in Canada but who emigrated to Australia at an early age.

No. Portrait Title
Governor
Office
(Birth–Death)
Term of office Monarch
1 The Right Honourable
Sir George Bowen
(1821–1899)
10 December
1859
4 January
1868
Victoria

(1837–1901)

8 years and 26 days
2 Colonel the Honourable
Samuel Blackall
(1809–1871)
14 August
1868
2 January
1871
2 years and 142 days
3 The Right Honourable
George Phipps
Earl of Mulgrave
(1819–1890)
12 August
1871
12 November
1874
3 years and 93 days
4 The Honourable
Sir William Cairns
(1828–1888)
23 January
1875
14 March
1877
2 years and 51 days
5 The Honourable
Sir Arthur Kennedy
(1809–1883)
20 July
1877
2 May
1883
5 years and 287 days
6 The Honourable
Sir Anthony Musgrave
(1828–1888)
6 November
1883
9 October
1888
4 years and 339 days
7 Field Marshal the Honourable
Sir Henry Norman

(1826–1904)
1 May
1889
31 December
1895
6 years and 245 days
8 The Right Honourable
Charles Cochrane-Baillie

2nd Baron Lamington
(1860–1940)
9 April
1896
19 December
1901
5 years and 255 days Edward VII

(1901–1910)

9 Lieutenant General the Honourable
Sir Herbert Chermside
(1850–1929)
24 March
1902
10 October
1904
2 years and 201 days
10 The Honourable
Frederic Thesiger
3rd Baron Chelmsford
(1868–1933)
30 November
1905
26 May
1909
3 years and 178 days
11 The Right Honourable
Sir William MacGregor
(1846–1919)
2 December
1909
16 July
1914
4 years and 227 days George V

(1910–1936)

12 The Honourable
Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams
(1858–1920)
15 March
1915
3 February
1920
4 years and 326 days
13 Lieutenant Colonel the Honourable
Sir Matthew Nathan
(1862–1939)
3 December
1920
17 September
1925
4 years and 289 days
14 Lieutenant General the Honourable
Sir John Goodwin
(1871–1960)
13 July
1927
7 April
1932
4 years and 270 days
15 Lieutenant Colonel the Right Honourable
Sir Leslie Wilson
(1876–1955)
13 June
1932
23 April
1946
Edward VIII

(1936)

13 years and 315 days George VI

(1936–1952)

16 Lieutenant General the Honourable
Sir John Lavarack
(1885–1957)
1 October
1946
4 December
1957
11 years and 65 days Elizabeth II

(1952–2022)

17 Colonel the Honourable
Sir Henry Abel Smith
(1900–1993)
18 March
1958
18 March
1966
8 years and 1 day
18 The Honourable
Sir Alan Mansfield
(1902–1980)
21 March
1966
21 March
1972
6 years and 1 day
19 Air Marshal the Honourable
Sir Colin Hannah
(1914–1978)
21 March
1972
20 March
1977
5 years and 0 days
20 Commodore the Honourable
Sir James Ramsay
(1916–1986)
22 April
1977
21 July
1985
8 years and 91 days
21 Flight Lieutenant the Honourable
Sir Walter Campbell
(1921–2004)
22 July
1985
29 July
1992
7 years and 8 days
22 The Honourable
Leneen Forde
(b. 1935)
29 July
1992
29 July
1997
5 years and 1 day
23 Major General the Honourable
Peter Arnison
(b. 1940)
29 July
1997
29 July
2003
6 years and 1 day
24 The Honourable
Dame Quentin Bryce
(b. 1942)
29 July
2003
29 July
2008
5 years and 1 day
25 The Honourable
Penelope Wensley
(b. 1946)
29 July
2008
29 July
2014
6 years and 1 day
26 Lieutenant the Honourable
Paul de Jersey
(b. 1948)
29 July
2014
1 November
2021
7 years and 96 days
27 Her Excellency the Honourable
Jeannette Young
(b. 1963)
1 November
2021
Incumbent
Charles III

(2022 - present)

361 days

List of administrators and lieutenant-governors of Queensland

Administrators and lieutenant-governors are deputy roles generally appointed to carry out the duties of the governor when the governor is unavailable, due to travel or illness. If one is not appointed, then the duties are carried out by the chief justice of Queensland (or the most senior judge available).[4] The following are the administrators and lieutenant-governors of Queensland:[5]

NameTermNotes
Maurice Charles O’Connell 4 January 1868 – 14 August 1868 Administrator
Maurice Charles O'Connell 2 January 1871 – 12 August 1871 Administrator
Maurice Charles O'Connell 12 November 1874 – 23 January 1875 Administrator
Maurice Charles O'Connell 14 March 1877 – 10 April 1877 Administrator
Arthur Edward Kennedy 10 April 1877 – 20 July 1877 Administrator
Joshua Peter Bell 19 March 1880 – 22 November 1880 Administrator
Arthur Hunter Palmer 2 May 1883 – 6 November 1883 Administrator
Arthur Hunter Palmer 20 April 1886 – 13 December 1886 Administrator
Arthur Hunter Palmer 9 October 1888 – 1 May 1889 Administrator
Arthur Hunter Palmer 15 November 1895 – 9 April 1896 Lieutenant Governor Administrator
Samuel Griffith 21 June 1901 – 24 March 1902 Lieutenant Governor
Hugh Muir Nelson 10 October 1904 – 30 November 1905 Lieutenant Governor
Arthur Morgan 27 May 1909 – 2 December 1909 Lieutenant Governor
Arthur Morgan 16 July 1914 – 15 March 1915 Lieutenant Governor
William Lennon 3 February 1920 – 3 December 1920 Lieutenant Governor
William Lennon 17 September 1925 – 13 June 1927 Lieutenant Governor
William Lennon 8 May 1929 – 2 June 1929 Lieutenant Governor
James William Blair 7 April 1932 – 1 June 1932 Administrator
James William Blair 17 May 1937 – 21 November 1937 Administrator
Frank Cooper 24 April 1946 – 30 September 1946 Lieutenant Governor
Alan Mansfield 25 January 1957 – 18 March 1958 Administrator
Alan Mansfield 31 March 1960 – 24 May 1960 Administrator
Alan Mansfield 18 April 1963 – 18 October 1963 Administrator
William Mack 10 March 1966 – 21 March 1966 Administrator
William Mack 20 March 1969 – 30 June 1969 Administrator
Joseph Aloysius Sheehy 30 June 1969 – 18 September 1969 Administrator
Mostyn Hanger 9 March 1972 – 21 March 1972 Administrator
Mostyn Hanger 21 March 1977 – 22 April 1977 Administrator

Notes

  1. equivalent to £575,544 in 2021[1]

References

  1. "Queensland Blue Book – 1900". Internet Archive. 1900.
  2. "Dr Jeannette Young Queensland's New Governor". Ministerial Media Statements. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  3. "20 June 2014" (PDF). Queensland Government Gazette. p. 15. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  4. "The Executive Government of Queensland". Queensland Parliament. Archived from the original on 25 November 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  5. "Governors and Deputy Governors of Queensland" (PDF). Queensland Parliament. 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
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