Governor of Western Australia

Governor of Western Australia
Badge of the Governor
Incumbent Kerry Sanderson AO since 20 October 2014
Viceroy
Style	Her Excellency
Residence	Government House, Perth
Appointer	Elizabeth II
Term length	At Her Majesty's pleasure
Formation	6 February 1832
First holder	Captain James Stirling
Website	Office of the Governor

The Governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the Queen of Australia, Elizabeth II. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the Governor of Western Australia performs important constitutional, ceremonial and community functions, including:

• presiding over the Executive Council;
• proroguing and dissolving the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council;
• issuing writs for elections; and
• appointing Ministers, Judges, Magistrates and Justices of the Peace.

Furthermore, all Bills passed by the Parliament of Western Australia require the Governor's signature before they become Acts and pass into law.

The current governor is Kerry Sanderson, who is the first woman to hold the position. She succeeded Malcolm McCusker in October 2014. Until the appointment of Sir James Mitchell in 1948, all governors of Western Australia had been British officials. After Mitchell's appointment, a further three Britons served as governor: Mitchell's two immediate successors, and then, from 1980 to 1983, Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Trowbridge, who was the last British governor of any Australian state.

Styles and titles

The Governor of Western Australia is styled Her Excellency during her term in office (or His Excellency, for a male governor). In August 2014, three of the four living past governors – John Sanderson, Ken Michael, and Malcolm McCusker – were given the title "The Honourable", on the recommendation of the premier. The other living former governor, Michael Jeffery, already held the title, in virtue of his later service as Governor-General of Australia.

List of Lieutenant Governors of the Swan River Colony and Governors of Western Australia

This is a list of Governors and Lieutenant-Governors of Western Australia.

Lieutenant Governors of the Swan River Colony

Standard of the Governor of Western Australia

Standard of the Governor of Western Australia 1953-1988

Standard of the Governor of Western Australia 1870-1953

Stirling was in fact only commissioned as Governor of Western Australia from 4 March 1831, rectifying the absence of a legal instrument providing the authority detailed in Stirling's Instructions of 30 December 1828. Stirling had said of his own position:

I believe I am the first Governor who ever formed a settlement without Commission, Laws, Instructions and Salary.

No.	Image	Lieutenant-Governor	From	To
1		Captain Sir James Stirling RN	30 December 1828	5 February 1832

Governors

No.	Image	Governor	From	To
1		Captain Sir James Stirling RN	4 March 1832	2 January 1839
2		John Hutt	3 January 1839	26 January 1846
3		Lieutenant Colonel Sir Andrew Clarke KCH	27 January 1846	11 February 1847
-		Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Irwin (acting Governor)	12 February 1847	11 August 1848
4		Captain Charles Fitzgerald	12 August 1848	22 July 1855
5		Sir Arthur Kennedy GCMG CB	23 July 1855	27 February 1862
6		Dr John Hampton	28 February 1862	1 November 1868
7		Sir Benjamin Pine	2 November 1868	29 September 1869
8		The Hon. Sir Frederick Weld GCMG	30 September 1869	10 January 1875
9		Sir William Robinson GCMG	11 January 1875	11 November 1877
10		Major General The Hon. Sir Harry Ord GCMG CB RE	12 November 1877	9 April 1880
-		Sir William Robinson GCMG (2nd time)	10 Apr 1880	1 June 1883
11		Sir Frederick Broome KCMG	2 June 1883	19 October 1890
-		Sir William Robinson GCMG (3rd time)	20 October 1890	22 December 1895
12		Lieutenant Colonel Sir Gerard Smith KCMG	23 December 1895	30 April 1901
13		The Rt Hon. Baron Wenlock GCIE KCMG	1 May 1901	23 March 1903
14		Admiral Sir Frederick Bedford KCB	24 March 1903	30 May 1909
15		Sir Gerald Strickland KCMG	31 May 1909	16 March 1913
16		Major General Sir Harry Barron KCMG CVO	17 March 1913	8 April 1917
17		The Rt Hon. Sir William Ellison-Macartney KCMG	9 April 1917	8 April 1920
18		Sir Francis Newdegate GCMG	9 April 1920	27 October 1924
19		Colonel Sir William Campion KCMG DSO TD	28 October 1924	8 June 1931
		N/A	1931	1948
20		Sir James Mitchell GCMG	5 October 1948	30 June 1951
21		General Sir Charles Gairdner GBE KCMG KCVO CB	6 November 1951	25 October 1963
22		Major General Sir Douglas Kendrew KCMG CB CBE DSO	25 October 1963	6 January 1974
23		Air Commodore Sir Hughie Edwards VC KCMG CB DSO OBE DFC	7 January 1974	23 November 1975
24		Air Chief Marshal Sir Wallace Hart Kyle GCB KCVO CBE DSO DFC RAF	24 November 1975	24 November 1980
25		Rear Admiral Sir Richard Trowbridge KCVO	25 November 1980	24 November 1983
26		Professor Gordon Reid AC	2 July 1984	September 1989
27		The Hon. Sir Francis Burt AC KCMG QC	29 March 1990	31 October 1993
28		Major General Michael Jeffery AC CVO MC KStJ	1 November 1993	17 August 2000
29		Lieutenant General John Sanderson AC	18 August 2000	31 October 2005
30		Dr Ken Michael AC	18 January 2006	2 May 2011
31		Malcolm McCusker AC CVO QC	1 July 2011	30 June 2014
32		Kerry Sanderson AO	20 October 2014	Incumbent

Government House, the residence of the Governor of Western Australia.

Living former governors

Four former governors are alive, the oldest being Michael Jeffery. The most recent governor to die was Sir Francis Burt, on 8 September 2004.

Name	Term as governor	Date of birth
Michael Jeffery	1993–2000	(1937-12-12) 12 December 1937
John Sanderson	2000–2006	(1940-11-04) 4 November 1940
Ken Michael	2006–2011	(1938-04-12) 12 April 1938
Malcolm McCusker	2011–2014	(1938-08-06) 6 August 1938

See also

• Government House, Perth

External links

• Government House, Western Australia: The Official Website of the Governor of Western Australia