List of governors of New South Wales
The Governor of New South Wales is the representative of the British monarch , currently Queen Elizabeth II , in the Australian state of New South Wales . The governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as the governor-general of Australia does at the national level.
In accordance with the conventions of the Westminster system , the governor acts almost entirely on the advice of the head of the elected government, in this case the Prime Minister of New South Wales . However, the governor has the right to dismiss the prime minister.
This office is the oldest government office in Australia. Arthur Phillip , commander of the First Fleet , held it from January 26, 1788, the day the first colony of Sydney was founded . The first governors had almost autocratic power due to the great distance from Great Britain until the founding of the New South Wales Legislative Council , the first Australian parliament, in 1824.
List of governors of New South Wales
| governor | Taking office | Resignation |
|---|---|---|
| Arthur Phillip | January 26, 1788 | December 10, 1792 |
| Francis Grose (acting) | December 11, 1792 | December 14, 1794 |
| William Paterson (acting) | December 11, 1792 | September 10, 1795 |
| John Hunter | September 11, 1795 | September 27, 1800 |
| Philip Gidley King | September 28, 1800 | August 12, 1806 |
| William Bligh | August 13, 1806 | January 26, 1808 |
| William Paterson (acting) | January 27, 1808 | December 31, 1809 |
| Lachlan Macquarie | January 1, 1810 | December 1, 1821 |
| Thomas Brisbane | December 1, 1821 | December 1, 1825 |
| Ralph Darling | December 19, 1825 | October 22, 1831 |
| Richard Bourke | December 3, 1831 | December 5, 1837 |
| George Gipps | February 24, 1838 | July 11, 1846 |
| Charles Augustus FitzRoy | August 3, 1846 | January 20, 1855 |
| William Denison | January 20, 1855 | January 22, 1861 |
| John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar | May 16, 1861 | December 24, 1867 |
| Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore | January 8, 1868 | February 21, 1872 |
| Hercules Robinson, 1st Baron Rosmead | June 3, 1872 | May 19, 1879 |
| Augustus Loftus | 4th August 1879 | November 9, 1885 |
| Robert Wynn-Carington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire | December 12, 1885 | November 3, 1890 |
| Victor Child-Villiers, 7th Earl of Jersey | January 15, 1891 | March 2, 1893 |
| Robert Duff | May 29, 1893 | March 15, 1895 |
| Henry Brand, 2nd Viscount Hampden | November 21, 1895 | March 5, 1899 |
| William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp | May 18, 1899 | April 30, 1901 |
| Harry Rawson | May 27, 1902 | May 27, 1909 |
| Frederic Thesiger, 3rd Baron Chelmsford | May 28, 1909 | March 11, 1913 |
| Gerald Strickland, 1st Baron Strickland | March 14, 1913 | October 27, 1917 |
| Walter Edward Davidson | February 18, 1918 | September 14, 1923 |
| Dudley de Chair | February 28, 1924 | April 7, 1930 |
| Philip Game | May 29, 1930 | January 15, 1935 |
| Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie | February 21, 1935 | January 22, 1936 |
| David Murray Anderson | August 6, 1936 | October 29, 1936 |
| John Loder, 2nd Baron Wakehurst | April 8, 1937 | January 8, 1946 |
| John Northcott | August 1, 1946 | July 31, 1957 |
| Eric Woodward | August 1, 1957 | July 31, 1965 |
| Roden Cutler | 20th January 1966 | January 19, 1981 |
| James Rowland | January 20, 1981 | January 20, 1989 |
| David Martin | January 20, 1989 | August 7, 1990 |
| Peter Sinclair | August 8, 1990 | February 29, 1996 |
| Gordon Samuels | March 1, 1996 | February 28, 2001 |
| Marie Bashir | March 1, 2001 | October 1, 2014 |
| David Hurley | 2nd October 2014 | 1st May 2019 |
| Margaret Beazley | 2nd May 2019 | officiating |
