Governor of Queensland

The Governor of Queensland has resided at Government House, Brisbane since 1910. The mansion, set in 14 hectares (35 acres) of gardens and bushland in the Brisbane suburb of Paddington, is also known as "Fernberg". Unlike Fernberg, the original Government House was purpose-built and was used from 1862 to 1910; the building still exists today on the grounds of Queensland University of Technology.

The office of Governor is established by the Constitution of Queensland. Section 29 of the Constitution as passed in 2001 provides that the office of Governor must exist and be appointed by the Sovereign, but parts of the earlier Constitution Act of 1867 relating to the Governor are still in force owing to the double entrenchment of them within the constitution by the government of Joh Bjelke-Petersen, who feared that the office and powers of State Governor might be abolished following the controversies of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis at a federal 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 Queensland. Nevertheless, the Governor retains the reserve powers of the Crown, and has the right to appoint and dismiss Ministers, issue pardons, and dissolve Parliament.

The Queensland constitution expressly provides that the Governor is not subject to direction by any person and is not limited as to the Governor's sources of advice on the appointment or dismissal of Ministers (s. 35), another provision inserted by the Bjelke-Petersen government in the wake of the 1975 federal dismissal. This provision worked against Bjelke-Petersen when, in the dying days of his government in November 1987, he tried and failed to convince Governor Sir Walter Campbell to remove several ministers to shore up his own support within Parliament. When the parliamentary wing of the National Party deposed Bjelke-Petersen and elected one of the dissident ministers, Mike Ahern, as new Leader of the National Party, Sir Joh initially refused to resign as Premier and Sir Walter resisted calls to dismiss him. Sir Joh elected to resign on 1 December 1987.

The Governor is head of the Executive Council, a Queensland equivalent to the Federal Executive Council. The Council is composed of ministers from the government of the day. The Chief Justice of Queensland and other judges in the Queensland judicial system are appointed by the Governor acting on the advice of the Executive Council.

The governor standard comprises a union jack with a white roundel in the center with the state badge of Queensland: a light blue Maltese cross, surmounted by a royal crown and surrounded by garland of laurel leaves.

The general design of Standards for British Governors was approved by Queen Victoria in 1869. The design for Governors of Queensland was created and flown as a personal standard since 1876, when the Maltese Cross was adopted as the colonial badge.

If the Standard is flying at Government House, on a vehicle or at an event, this indicates that the Governor is present.

Past and present standards of the governor

• 
  1870–1876
• 
  1876–1901, bearing an Imperial crown
• 
  1901-1953, bearing a Tudor crown
• 
  1953 - present, bearing a St. Edward's crown

The first Australian- (and Queensland-) born Governor of Queensland was Lieutenant-General Sir John Lavarack (appointed 1946). His successor, Sir Henry Abel Smith was British. All subsequent governors have been Australian-born, except for Leneen Forde, who was born in Canada but who emigrated to Australia at an early age.

No.	Governor (Birth–Death)	Portrait	Country of birth	Took office	Left office	Time
1	George Bowen (1821–1899)		United Kingdom	10 December 1859	4 January 1868	8 years, 25 days
2	Samuel Blackall (1809–1871)		United Kingdom	14 August 1868	2 January 1871	2 years, 141 days
3	George Phipps (1819–1890)		United Kingdom	12 August 1871	12 November 1874	3 years, 92 days
4	William Cairns (1828–1888)		United Kingdom	23 January 1875	14 March 1877	2 years, 50 days
5	Arthur Kennedy (1809–1883)		United Kingdom	20 July 1877	2 May 1883	5 years, 286 days
6	Anthony Musgrave (1828–1888)		British West Indies	6 November 1883	9 October 1888	4 years, 338 days
7	Henry Norman (1826–1904)		United Kingdom	1 May 1889	31 December 1895	6 years, 244 days
8	Charles Cochrane-Baillie (1860–1940)		United Kingdom	9 April 1896	19 December 1901	5 years, 254 days
9	Herbert Chermside (1850–1929)		United Kingdom	24 March 1902	10 October 1904	2 years, 200 days
10	Frederic Thesiger (1868–1933)		United Kingdom	30 November 1905	26 May 1909	3 years, 177 days
11	William MacGregor (1846–1919)		United Kingdom	2 December 1909	16 July 1914	4 years, 226 days
12	Hamilton Goold-Adams (1858–1920)		United Kingdom	15 March 1915	3 February 1920	4 years, 325 days
13	Matthew Nathan (1862–1939)		United Kingdom	3 December 1920	17 September 1925	4 years, 288 days
14	John Goodwin (1871–1960)		British Ceylon	13 July 1927	7 April 1932	4 years, 299 days
15	Leslie Wilson (1876–1955)		United Kingdom	13 June 1932	23 April 1946	13 years, 314 days
16	John Lavarack (1885–1957)		Colony of Queensland	1 October 1946	4 December 1957	11 years, 64 days
17	Henry Abel Smith (1900–1993)		United Kingdom	18 March 1958	18 March 1966	8 years
18	Alan Mansfield (1902–1980)		Australia	21 March 1966	21 March 1972	6 years
19	Colin Hannah (1914–1978)		Australia	21 March 1972	20 March 1977	5 years, 213 days
20	James Ramsay (1916–1986)		Australia	22 April 1977	21 July 1985	8 years, 90 days
21	Walter Campbell (1921–2004)		Australia	22 July 1985	29 July 1992	7 years, 7 days
22	Leneen Forde (1935–present)		Canada	29 July 1992	29 July 1997	5 years
23	Peter Arnison (1940–present)		Australia	29 July 1997	29 July 2003	6 years
24	Quentin Bryce (1942–present)		Australia	29 July 2003	29 July 2008	5 years
25	Penelope Wensley (1946–present)		Australia	29 July 2008	29 July 2014	6 years
26	Paul de Jersey (1948–present)		Australia	29 July 2014	Incumbent	6 years, 195 days

Four former governors of Queensland are alive, the oldest being Leneen Forde (1992–97, born 1935).

The most recent death of a former governor was that of Sir Walter Campbell (1985–92), on 4 September 2004.

Administrators and Lieutenant-Governors are deputy roles generally appointed to carry out the duties of the Governor when the Governor is unavailable, due to travel or illness. If one is not appointed, then the duties are carried out by the Chief Justice of Queensland (or the most senior judge available).[3] The following are the Administrators and Lieutenant-Governors of Queensland:[4]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Governors of Queensland.

• Official Website of the Governor of Queensland