Origins
The office of Governor is the oldest constitutional office in Australia. Each of the six states was founded as a British colony, and a Governor was appointed by the British government to exercise executive authority over the colony. Captain Arthur Phillip assumed office as Governor of New South Wales on 7 February 1788, the day on which he founded what is now the city of Sydney, the first British settlement in Australia.
The first Governors of the other five states, and their dates of appointment, were as follows:
- Western Australia: Captain James Stirling (6 February 1832)
- South Australia: Captain John Hindmarsh (28 December 1836)
- Tasmania: Sir Henry Fox Young (8 January 1855)
- Victoria: Sir Charles Hotham (22 May 1855)
- Queensland: Sir George Bowen (10 December 1859)
Only in New South Wales and South Australia was the date of the appointment of the first Governor the actual date of the colony's foundation. The settlement which became Queensland was founded in 1824, but was not separated from New South Wales until 1859. In Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia executive authority was exercised by a Lieutenant-Governor for some years before the first Governor was appointed; Tasmania was founded in 1804, Western Australia in 1828 and Victoria in 1835.
New South Wales and Tasmania (which was known as Van Diemen's Land until 1855) were founded as penal colonies, and their Governors (Lieutenant-Governors in Tasmania) exercised more or less absolute authority. Tasmania in particular was run as a virtual prison camp in its early years. The Governors were also commanders-in-chief, and the troops under their command were the real basis of their authority.
From the 1820s, however, the increasing number of free settlers in the colonies led to a process of constitutional reform which gradually reduced the powers of the Governors. New South Wales was given its first legislative body, the New South Wales Legislative Council, in 1825. Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, which were not founded as penal settlements, moved rapidly towards constitutional government after their establishment.
Read more about this topic: Governors Of The Australian States
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