Governor of Tasmania

Governor of Tasmania
Badge of the Governor
Incumbent Kate Warner AM since 10 December 2014
Viceroy
Style	Her Excellency
Residence	Government House, Hobart
Appointer	Elizabeth II
Term length	At Her Majesty's pleasure
Formation	8 January 1855
First holder	Sir Henry Fox Young
Website	www.govhouse.tas.gov.au

Standard of the Governor of Tasmania

Standard of the Governor of Tasmania (1876-1977)

The Governor of Tasmania is the representative in the Australian state of Tasmania of Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia. 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 of parliamentary government, the Governor nearly always acts solely on the advice of the head of the elected government, the Premier of Tasmania. Nevertheless, the Governor retains the reserve powers of the Crown, and has the right to dismiss the Premier.

See Governors of the Australian states for a description and history of the office of Governor.

The official residence of the Governor is Government House located at the Queens Domain.

The first Australian-born Governor of Tasmania was Sir Stanley Burbury (appointed 1973). The first Tasmanian-born governor was Sir Guy Green (appointed 1995). Since Burbury, all Tasmanian governors have been Australian-born, except for Peter Underwood, who was born in Britain but emigrated to Australia when a teenager. The position was vacant for over five months in 2014, due to the unexpected death of the incumbent Peter Underwood on 7 July, with Chief Justice and Lieutenant-Governor Alan Blow acting as Administrator. On 10 November, Premier Will Hodgman announced that University of Tasmania legal academic Kate Warner would be appointed as the state's first female governor. Warner was sworn in on 10 December.

As from the appointment of Kate Warner as Governor in December 2014, The Queen, upon the recommendation of the Premier, accorded Professor Warner, and all future Governors, the title 'The Honourable' for life.

Divided in two

Between 1804 and 1813, Van Diemen's Land was divided along the 42nd parallel, and the two sections governed as separate "Lieutenant-Governorships" under the Governor of New South Wales. Collins was the only officially appointed Lieutenant-Governor—upon his death in 1810, the government in Hobart Town was administered, by the Commandants at Hobart Town (Lord, Murray and Geils). The northern settlement at Port Dalrymple (now George Town) was administered by four Commandants until the settlements were merged to form the single colony under the governorship of Thomas Davey in 1813.

Lieutenant-Governor and Commandants in the south

No.	Lieutenant-Governor		From	To
1		Colonel David Collins	1804	1810
2		Lieutenant Edward Lord (Commandant at Hobart Town)	March 1810	July 1810
3		Captain John Murray (Commandant at Hobart Town)	1810	1812
4		Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Geils (Commandant at Hobart Town)	1812	1813

Commandants in the north

No.	Commandant at Port Dalrymple		From	To
1		Colonel William Paterson	1804	1808
2		Captain John Brabyn	1808	1810
3		Major George Alexander Gordon	1810	1812
4		Captain John Ritchie	1812	1812

List of Governors of Tasmania

Lieutenant-Governors

The colony was called Van Diemen's Land until 1856.

No.	Lieutenant-Governor		From	To
1		Colonel Thomas Davey	4 February 1813	9 March 1817
2		Colonel William Sorell	9 March 1817	14 May 1824
3		Colonel Sir George Arthur KCH	14 May 1824	29 October 1836
4		Captain Sir John Franklin KCH	5 January 1837	21 August 1843
5		Sir John Eardley-Wilmot, Bt	21 August 1843	13 October 1846
6		Sir William Denison KCB	25 January 1847	8 January 1855

Governors

No.	Governor		From	To
1		Sir Henry Young KCMG	8 January 1855	10 December 1861
2		Colonel Sir Thomas Browne KCMG CB	11 December 1862	30 December 1868
3		Sir Charles Du Cane KCMG	15 January 1869	30 November 1874
4		The Hon. Sir Frederick Weld GCMG	13 January 1875	5 April 1880
5		Major Sir George Strahan KCMG	7 December 1881	28 October 1886
6	80px	Sir Robert Hamilton KCB	11 March 1887	30 November 1892
7		The Rt Hon. The Viscount Gormanston GCMG	8 August 1893	14 August 1900
8		Captain Sir Arthur Havelock GCSI GCMG GCIE	8 November 1901	16 April 1904
9		The Rt Hon. The Lord Strickland GCMG	28 October 1904	20 May 1909
10		Major-General Sir Harry Barron KCMG CVO	16 September 1909	3 March 1913
11		The Rt Hon. Sir William Ellison-Macartney KCMG	4 June 1913	31 March 1917
12		Sir Francis Newdegate GCMG KStJ	30 March 1917	22 February 1920
13		Sir William Allardyce KCMG	16 April 1920	27 January 1922
14		Sir James O'Grady KCMG	23 December 1924	23 December 1930
15		Sir Ernest Clark GCMG KCB CBE	4 August 1933	4 August 1945
16		Admiral Sir Hugh Binney KCB KCMG DSO	24 December 1945	8 May 1951
17		The Rt Hon. Sir Ronald Cross, Bt KCMG KCVO PC	22 August 1951	4 June 1958
18		The Rt Hon. The Lord Rowallan KT KBE MC TD	21 October 1959	25 March 1963
19		General Sir Charles Gairdner GBE KCMG KCVO CB	24 September 1963	11 July 1968
20		Lieutenant-General Sir Edric Bastyan KCMG KCVO KBE CB	2 December 1968	30 November 1973
21		The Hon. Sir Stanley Burbury KCMG KCVO KBE	5 December 1973	16 March 1982
22		Sir James Plimsoll AC CBE KStJ	1 October 1982	8 May 1987
23		General Sir Phillip Bennett AC KBE DSO KStJ	19 October 1987	2 October 1995
24		The Hon. Sir Guy Green AC KBE CVO	2 October 1995	3 October 2003
25		Richard Butler AC	3 October 2003	9 August 2004
26		The Hon. William Cox AC RFD ED QC	15 December 2004	2 April 2008
27		The Hon. Peter Underwood AC	2 April 2008	7 July 2014
28		The Hon. Professor Kate Warner AM	10 December 2014	Incumbent

Living former governors

Four former governors are alive, the oldest being Sir Phillip Bennett (1987–95, born 1928). The latest-serving former governor to die was Sir Stanley Burbury (1973–82), on 24 April 1995. The most recently serving governor to die was Peter Underwood (2008–14), who died in office on 7 July 2014.

Name	Term as governor	Date of birth
Sir Phillip Bennett	1987–1995	27 December 1928
Sir Guy Green	1995–2003	26 July 1937
Richard Butler	2003–2004	13 May 1942
William Cox	2004–2008	1 April 1936

References

• Governors and Lieutenant Governors of Tasmania
• Parliamentary Library - Governors of Tasmania