Secretary for Public Works (New South Wales)

The Secretary for Public Works, later the Minister for Public Works was a long standing ministry in the administration of New South Wales created in 1859 and abolished in 2003.[1]

Secretary for Public Works of New South Wales
AppointerGovernor of New South Wales
PrecursorSecretary for Lands and Works
Formation1 October 1859
First holderEdward Flood
Final holderMorris Iemma
Abolished2 April 2003

Role and responsibilities

The Secretary for Lands and Works was one of the first ministries in the colonial administration of New South Wales and the land issue dominated the politics of the late 1850s. In October 1859, towards the end of the second Cowper ministry, the ministry was split into two ministries, the Secretary for Lands and the Secretary for Public Works, which enabled John Robertson to concentrate on what became known as the Robertson Land Acts,[2][3] William Forster put forward and alternate explanation, that Cowper had created the position and appointed Flood in an unsuccessful attempt to strengthen his parliamentary position.[4] The department had two main functions:

  1. The administration of the construction and maintenance of public works, including water supply, sewerage, electricity supply, railways, tramways, roads and electric telegraph; harbours and river navigation, the Civil Engineer (Dry Docks, Cockatoo Island), defence works and the Colonial Architect and
  2. A Board which oversaw how tenders for public works were administered.[5][6]

In 1906 the Secretary assumed responsibility for local government.

List of Secretaries and Ministers for Public Works
TitleMinister[1]PartyTerm startTerm endTime in officeNotes
Secretary for Public Works Edward Flood   No party 1 October 1859 26 October 1859 25 days
Geoffrey Eagar 27 October 1859 8 March 1860 133 days
William Arnold 9 March 1860 15 October 1863 3 years, 220 days
Arthur Holroyd 16 October 1863 2 February 1865 1 year, 109 days
William Arnold 3 February 1865 19 October 1865 258 days
Thomas Smart 20 October 1865 21 January 1866 93 days
James Byrnes 22 January 1866 26 October 1868 2 years, 278 days
John Sutherland 27 October 1868 15 December 1870 2 years, 49 days
James Byrnes 16 December 1870 13 May 1872 1 year, 149 days
John Sutherland 14 May 1872 8 February 1875 2 years, 270 days
John Lackey 9 February 1875 21 March 1877 2 years, 40 days
James Hoskins 22 March 1877 16 August 1877 147 days
Edward Combes 17 August 1877 17 December 1877 122 days
John Sutherland 18 December 1877 20 December 1878 1 year, 2 days
John Lackey 21 December 1878 4 January 1883 4 years, 14 days
Henry Copeland 5 January 1883 28 March 1883 82 days
Francis Wright 28 May 1883 6 October 1885 2 years, 131 days
Henry Badgery 7 October 1885 31 October 1885 24 days
William Lyne 2 November 1885 21 December 1885 49 days
Jacob Garrard 22 December 1885 25 February 1886 65 days
William Lyne 26 February 1886 19 January 1887 327 days
John Sutherland   Free Trade 20 January 1887 16 January 1889 1 year, 362 days
James Fletcher   Protectionist 17 January 1889 7 March 1889 49 days
Bruce Smith   Free Trade 8 March 1889 13 August 1891 2 years, 158 days
James Young 14 August 1891 22 October 1891 69 days
William Lyne   Protectionist 23 October 1891 2 August 1894 2 years, 283 days
James Young   Free Trade 3 August 1894 3 July 1899 4 years, 334 days
Charles Lee 3 July 1899 13 September 1899 72 days
Edward O'Sullivan   Protectionist 14 September 1899 27 March 1901 1 year, 194 days
  Progressive 28 March 1901 14 June 1904 3 years, 78 days
Walter Bennett 15 June 1904 29 August 1904 75 days
Charles Lee   Liberal Reform 29 August 1904 20 October 1910 6 years, 52 days
Minister for Public Works Arthur Griffith   Labor 21 October 1910 15 March 1915 4 years, 145 days
John Cann 15 March 1915 15 November 1916 1 year, 245 days
Secretary for Public Works Richard Ball   Nationalist 15 November 1916 12 April 1920 3 years, 149 days
John Estell   Labor 12 April 1920 20 December 1921 1 year, 252 days
Sir Thomas Henley   Nationalist 20 December 1921 20 December 1921 0 days
John Estell   Labor 20 December 1921 13 April 1922 114 days
Sir Thomas Henley   Nationalist 13 April 1922 19 June 1922 67 days
Richard Ball 28 June 1922 17 June 1925 2 years, 354 days
Martin Flannery   Labor 17 June 1925 26 May 1927 1 year, 343 days
William Ratcliffe 27 May 1927 18 October 1927 144 days
Ernest Buttenshaw   Country 18 October 1927 3 November 1930 3 years, 16 days
Mat Davidson   Labor 4 November 1930 15 October 1931 345 days
  Labor (NSW) 15 October 1931 13 May 1932 211 days
Reginald Weaver   United Australia 16 May 1932 10 February 1935 2 years, 270 days
Bertram Stevens 10 February 1935 21 August 1935 192 days
Eric Spooner 22 August 1935 21 July 1939 3 years, 333 days
Bertram Stevens 21 July 1939 5 August 1939 15 days
Alexander Mair 5 August 1939 16 August 1939 11 days
Lewis Martin 16 August 1939 16 May 1941 1 year, 273 days
Joseph Cahill   Labor 16 May 1941 2 April 1952 10 years, 322 days
Jack Renshaw 3 April 1952 15 March 1956 3 years, 347 days
John McGrath 15 March 1956 1 April 1959 3 years, 17 days
Minister for Public Works Norm Ryan 1 April 1959 13 May 1965 6 years, 42 days
Davis Hughes   Country 13 May 1965 17 January 1973 7 years, 249 days
Leon Punch 17 January 1973 14 May 1976 3 years, 118 days
Jack Ferguson   Labor 14 May 1976 10 February 1984 7 years, 272 days
Laurie Brereton 10 February 1984 6 February 1986 1 year, 361 days
Minister for Public Works and Ports 6 February 1986 26 November 1987 1 year, 293 days
Minister for Public Works Peter Cox 26 November 1987 21 March 1988 116 days
Wal Murray   National 21 March 1988 26 May 1993 5 years, 66 days
Ian Armstrong 26 May 1993 4 April 1995 1 year, 313 days
Minister for Public Works and Services Michael Knight   Labor 4 April 1995 15 December 1995 255 days
Carl Scully 15 December 1995 1 December 1997 1 year, 351 days
Ron Dyer 1 December 1997 8 April 1999 1 year, 128 days
Morris Iemma 8 April 1999 2 April 2003 3 years, 359 days

Former ministerial titles
This section is an excerpt from Secretary for Lands and Works (New South Wales) § List of Secretaries for Lands and Works[edit]
TitleMinister [1]PartyTerm startTerm endTime in officeNotes
Secretary for Lands and Works George Nichols No party 6 June 1856 25 August 1856 80 days [7]
Terence Murray 25 August 1856 2 October 1856 38 days [8]
John Hay 3 October 1856 7 September 1857 339 days [9]
Terence Murray 7 September 1857 12 January 1858 127 days [8]
John Robertson 13 January 1858 30 September 1859 1 year, 260 days [10]

References
  1. "Part 6 Ministries since 1856" (PDF). NSW Parliamentary Record. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  2. Nairn, Bede. "Robertson, Sir John (1816–1891)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne University Press. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 23 November 2020 – via National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  3. "Mr Flood". The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser. 13 October 1859. p. 2. Retrieved 14 December 2020 – via Trove.
  4. Rathbone, R W. "Flood, Edward (1805-1888)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne University Press. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 14 December 2020 – via National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  5. "AGY-45 Department of (Secretary of) Public Works". NSW State Records & Archives. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  6. "AGY-3082 Department of Public Works [II]". NSW State Records & Archives. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  7. "Mr George Robert Nichols (1809–1857)". Former Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  8. "Sir Terence Aubrey Murray (1810-1873)". Former Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  9. "Sir John Hay (1816-1892)". Former Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  10. "Sir John Robertson (1816–1891)". Former Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
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