Governor of South Australia

Governor of South Australia
Viceroy
Provincial/State
Badge of the governor
Incumbent: Kevin Scarce
Style:	His Excellency
Appointed by:	Elizabeth II as Queen of Australia
First viceroy:	Captain John Hindmarsh
Formation:	28 December 1836
Term:	At Her Majesty's pleasure

Standard of the Governor of South Australia

Standard of the Governor 1904–1975

Standard of the Governor 1870–1876

The Governor of South Australia is the representative in the Australian state of South Australia of Elizabeth II, 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 South Australia. Nevertheless, the Governor retains the reserve powers of the Crown, and has the right to dismiss the Premier. The Westminster system is a form of Constitutional Monarchy.

The first Australian-born Governor of South Australia was Major-General Sir James Harrison (appointed 1968), and all subsequent governors have been Australian-born. The first South Australian-born governor was Sir Mark Oliphant (appointed 1971).

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

List of Governors of South Australia

#	Image	Governor	From	To
1		Rear Admiral Sir John Hindmarsh KH	28 December 1836	16 July 1838
2		Lieutenant-Colonel George Gawler KH	17 October 1838	15 May 1841
3		Sir George Grey KCB	15 May 1841	25 October 1845
4		Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Holt Robe	25 October 1845	2 August 1848
5		Sir Henry Fox Young KCMG	2 August 1848	20 December 1854
6		Sir Richard Groves MacDonnell KCMG CB	8 June 1855	4 March 1862
7		Sir Dominick Daly	4 March 1862	19 February 1868
8		The Rt Hon. Sir James Fergusson Bt	16 February 1869	18 April 1873
9		Sir Anthony Musgrave KCMG	9 June 1873	29 January 1877
10		Lieutenant-General Sir William Jervois GCMG CB	2 October 1877	9 January 1883
11		Sir William Robinson GCMG	19 February 1883	5 March 1889
12		The Rt Hon. Earl of Kintore GCMG	11 April 1889	10 April 1895
13		Sir Thomas Buxton Bt GCMG	29 October 1895	29 March 1899
14		The Rt Hon. Lord Tennyson GCMG	10 April 1899	17 July 1902
15		Sir George Le Hunte KCMG	1 July 1903	18 February 1909
16		Admiral Sir Day Bosanquet GCVO KCB	18 February 1909	22 March 1914
17		Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Galway KCMG DSO	18 April 1914	30 April 1920
18		Lieutenant-Colonel Sir William Archibald Weigall KCMG	9 June 1920	30 May 1922
19		Lieutenant-General Sir Tom Bridges KCB KCMG DSO	4 December 1922	4 December 1927
20		Brigadier-General the Rt Hon. Earl of Gowrie VC KCMG CB DSO	14 May 1928	26 April 1934
21		Major-General Lord Dugan KCMG CB DSO	28 July 1934	23 February 1939
22		Sir Malcolm Barclay-Harvey KCMG	12 August 1939	26 April 1944
23		Lieutenant-General Sir Willoughby Norrie KCMG CB DSO MC	19 December 1944	19 June 1952
24		Air Vice-Marshal Sir Robert George KCMG KCVO KBE CB MC	23 February 1953	7 March 1960
25		Lieutenant-General Sir Edric Bastyan KCMG KCVO KBE CB	4 April 1961	1 June 1968
26		Major-General Sir James Harrison KCMG CB CBE	4 December 1968	16 September 1971
27		Professor Sir Mark Oliphant AC KBE	1 December 1971	30 November 1976
28		Pastor Sir Douglas Nicholls KCVO OBE	1 December 1976	30 April 1977
29		Reverend Sir Keith Seaman KCVO OBE	1 September 1977	28 March 1982
30		Lieutenant-General Sir Donald Dunstan AC KBE CB	23 April 1982	5 February 1991
31		The Hon. Dame Roma Mitchell AC DBE CVO QC	6 February 1991	21 July 1996
32		Sir Eric Neal AC CVO	22 July 1996	3 November 2001
33		Mrs. Marjorie Jackson-Nelson AC CVO MBE	3 November 2001	31 July 2007
34		Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce AC CSC	8 August 2007	Present

Living former governors

Three former governors are alive, the oldest being Sir Keith Seaman (1977–1982, born 1920). The latest-serving former governor to die was Dame Roma Mitchell (1991–1996), on 5 March 2000. The most recent death of a former governor was that of Sir Donald Dunstan (1982–1991), on 15 October 2011.

Name	Term as governor	Date of birth
Rev. Sir Keith Seaman	1977–1982	11 June 1920 (1920-06-11)
Sir Eric Neal	1996–2001	3 June 1924 (1924-06-03)
Marjorie Jackson-Nelson	2001–2007	13 September 1931 (1931-09-13)

External links

• The Official Website of the Governor of South Australia
• Previous governors on official website