Governor of Queensland

Governor of Queensland
Viceroy
Provincial/State
Badge of the governor
Incumbent: Penelope Wensley
Style:	Her Excellency
Appointed by:	Elizabeth II as Queen of Australia
First viceroy:	Sir George Bowen
Formation:	10 December 1859
Term:	At Her Majesty's pleasure

Standard of the Governor of Queensland.

The Governor of Queensland is the representative in the state of Queensland of the Queen of Australia. The Governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the Governor-General of Australia 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 Queensland. Nevertheless, the Governor retains the reserve powers of the Crown, and has the right to dismiss the Premier.

The Governor of Queensland has resided at Government House, Brisbane since 1910. Government House consists of a mansion known as Fernberg set in 14 hectares of gardens and bushland in the Brisbane suburb of Bardon. 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 current Governor, Penelope Wensley was sworn in on 29 July 2008.

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.

List of Governors of Queensland

No.	Image	Governor	From	To
1		The Rt Hon Sir George Bowen GCMG	10 December 1859	4 January 1868
2		Colonel Sir Samuel Blackall	14 August 1868	2 January 1871
3		The Most Hon Marquess of Normanby GCB GCMG PC	12 August 1871	12 November 1874
4		Sir William Cairns KCMG	23 January 1875	14 March 1877
5		Sir Arthur Kennedy GCMG CB	20 July 1877	2 May 1883
6		Sir Anthony Musgrave KCMG	6 November 1883	9 November 1888
7		Field Marshal Sir Henry Norman GCB GCMG CIE	1 May 1889	31 December 1895
8		The Rt Hon Lord Lamington GCMG GCIE	9 April 1896	19 December 1901
9		Lieutenant General Sir Herbert Chermside GCMG CB	24 March 1902	10 October 1904
10		The Rt Hon Viscount Chelmsford GCSI GCMG GCIE GBE PC	30 November 1905	26 May 1909
11		The Rt Hon Sir William MacGregor GCMG CB	2 December 1909	16 July 1914
12		Major Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams GCMG CB	15 March 1915	3 February 1920
13		Lieutenant Colonel Sir Matthew Nathan GCMG	3 December 1920	17 September 1925
14		Lieutenant General Sir John Goodwin KCB KCMG DSO	13 June 1927	7 April 1932
15		The Rt Hon Sir Leslie Wilson GCMG GCSI GCIE DSO PC	13 June 1932	23 April 1946
16		Lieutenant General Sir John Lavarack KCMG KCVO KBE CB DSO	1 October 1946	4 December 1957
17		Colonel Sir Henry Abel Smith KCMG KCVO DSO	18 March 1958	18 March 1966
18		Sir Alan Mansfield KCMG KCVO	21 March 1966	21 March 1972
19		Air Marshal Sir Colin Hannah KCMG KCVO KBE CB	21 March 1972	20 March 1977
20		Commodore Sir James Ramsay KCMG KCVO CBE DSC	22 April 1977	21 July 1985
21		Sir Walter Campbell AC QC	22 July 1985	29 July 1992
22		Leneen Forde AC	29 July 1992	29 July 1997
23		Major General Peter Arnison AC CVO	29 July 1997	29 July 2003
24		Quentin Bryce AC	29 July 2003	29 July 2008
25		Penelope Wensley AC	29 July 2008	Present

Living former governors

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

Name	Term as governor	Date of birth
Leneen Forde	1992–1997	12 May 1935
Peter Arnison	1997–2003	1940
Quentin Bryce	2003–2008	23 December 1942

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

External links

• Official Website of the Governor of Queensland