Background
For the first two decades after federation, governors-general were selected solely by the British government. The monarch was consulted on the decision into the 1930s. The first four governors-general were peers; Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson (appointed 1914) was the first commoner to hold the position, although he was also later elevated to the peerage. In 1920, Billy Hughes became the first prime minister to be consulted over the governor-generalship. Stanley Bruce (1925) and Joseph Lyons (1935) either asked for or were given a list of suitable candidates to choose from.
James Scullin (1930) became the first prime minister of Australia to exercise complete discretion in the appointment; his nomination of Sir Isaac Isaacs made Australia the first Dominion to have a native-born governor-general. In 1945, John Curtin nominated Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, to the post – the first and only royal officeholder to take up the post; however, in October 1938 Prince George, Duke of Kent had been announced as the successor to Lord Gowrie with effect from November 1939, [1] [2] but on 11 September 1939, owing to the outbreak of the Second World War, the Duke's appointment was postponed. It never eventuated, instead Lord Gowrie continued his incumbency until 1945, creating a still-unsurpassed record term of over 9 years. [3] A second Australian (William McKell) was appointed in 1947; he was followed by three more Britons, each chosen by Sir Robert Menzies. Menzies's fourth nomination was Richard Casey, who took office in 1965; he and all subsequent governors-general have been Australian citizens. All states except South Australia and Tasmania have provided at least one appointee. The first female governor-general, Quentin Bryce, took office in 2008.
The governor-general of Australia is the federal representative of the monarch of Australia, currently Charles III. The governor-general has many constitutional and ceremonial roles in the Australian political system, in which they have independent agency. However, they are generally bound by convention to act on the advice of the prime minister and the Federal Executive Council. They also have a significant community role, through recognising meritorious individuals and groups, and representing the nation as a whole. The current governor-general is Sam Mostyn.
Sir Guy Stephen Montague Green, is a retired Australian judge who served as the Governor of Tasmania from 1995 to 2003. He was the first Tasmanian-born governor of the state, although not the first Australian-born.
Government House, colloquially known as Yarralumla, is the official residence of the governor-general of Australia. It is located in the suburb of Yarralumla in the Australian capital city of Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory. The main residence is set amid 54 hectares of parkland. The house and its associated grounds were added to the Commonwealth Heritage List on 22 June 2004.
John Adrian Louis Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, 7th Earl of Hopetoun, was a British aristocrat and statesman who served as the first governor-general of Australia, in office from 1901 to 1902. He was previously Governor of Victoria from 1889 to 1895.
Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, was a British aristocrat who served as the second governor-general of Australia, in office from 1903 to 1904. He was previously Governor of South Australia from 1899 to 1902.
John Lawrence Baird, 1st Viscount Stonehaven, was a British politician who served as the eighth Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1925 to 1930. He had previously been a government minister under David Lloyd George, Bonar Law, and Stanley Baldwin.
Brigadier General Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, was a British Army officer who served as the 10th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1936 to 1945. He was previously Governor of South Australia (1928–1934) and Governor of New South Wales (1935–1936).
Sir William John McKell, was an Australian politician who served as the 12th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1947 to 1953. He had previously been Premier of New South Wales from 1941 to 1947, as leader of the Labor Party.
William Shepherd Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil,, was a British politician. He was a long-serving cabinet minister before serving as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1951 to 1959. He was then appointed as the 14th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1960 until his death in 1961.
William Philip Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle, known as Lord De L'Isle and Dudley between 1945 and 1956, was a British Army officer, politician and Victoria Cross recipient who served as the 15th governor-general of Australia, in office from 1961 to 1965. He was the last non-Australian to hold the position.
Each Australian state has a governor to represent Australia's monarch within it. The governors are the nominal chief executives of the states, performing the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the governor-general of Australia at the national or federal level. In practice, with notable exceptions the governors are generally required by convention to act on the advice of the state premiers or the other members of a state's cabinet.
The title Administrator of the government (Administrator) has several uses in Australia.
Arthur Herbert Tennyson Somers-Cocks, 6th Baron Somers,, was a British Army officer who was the 16th Governor of Victoria, from 1926 to 1931 and Administrator of Australia in 1930-31. He had a long involvement with the Boy Scout Movement and became the Boy Scouts Association's Chief Scout of the British Empire from 1942 until his death.
The following lists events that happened during 1965 in Australia.
The following lists events that happened during 1901 in Australia.
Rear Admiral Sir Leighton Seymour Bracegirdle, was an Australian naval officer and an Official Secretary to four Australian governors-general: Sir Isaac Isaacs, Lord Gowrie, the Duke of Gloucester, and William McKell.
Peers of the Realm have been associated with Australia since early in its history as a British settlement. Many peers served as governors of the Australian colonies, and in the days when the practice of appointing British governors-general was current, the great majority were peers.
Australia is a constitutional monarchy whose Sovereign also serves as Monarch of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada and eleven other former dependencies of the United Kingdom including Papua New Guinea, which was formerly a dependency of Australia. These countries operate as independent nations, and are known as Commonwealth realms. The history of the Australian monarchy has involved a shifting relationship with both the monarch and also the British government.
The Barton government was the first federal executive government of the Commonwealth of Australia. It was led by Prime Minister Sir Edmund Barton, from 1 January 1901 until 24 September 1903, when Barton resigned to become one of the three founding judges of the High Court of Australia.
Richard Gavin Gardiner Casey, Baron Casey was an Australian statesman who served as the 16th governor-general of Australia, in office from 1965 to 1969. He was also a distinguished army officer, long-serving cabinet minister, Ambassador to the United States, member of Churchill's War Cabinet, and Governor of Bengal.
