Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales

The Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales is a government position in the state of New South Wales, Australia, acting as a deputy to the Governor of New South Wales.

The office was first created in October 1786, before the arrival of the First Fleet, to act as a deputy to the first governor, Arthur Phillip. At that time the office was only created when it was needed, as opposed to a permanent appointee.

From 1872 onwards this office was permanently filled by the Chief Justice of New South Wales.

Role

Originally, the Lieutenant Governor had a legislative role with a seat on the first Legislative Council of New South Wales in 1824, this was later phased out due to the lessening of the powers of the state governor.

When the Governor dies, resigns, or is absent, an Administrator or Lieutenant Governor, would be appointed to take up the duties of the Governor. The Lieutenant-Governors/Administrators have no standing powers but stand ready to take up the Governor's role.

This was last used when in September 2008, in the absence of Governor Marie Bashir, the Lieutenant Governor, James Spigelman, administered the swearing in of the new cabinet of the Nathan Rees government.

Lieutenant Governors and Administrators of NSW

No.	Governor	From	To
1	Major Robert Ross	24 October 1786	8 July 1792
2	Major Francis Grose	13 December 1792	17 December 1794
3	Lieutenant-Colonel William Paterson	18 December 1794	19 September 1795
	Office Vacant	20 September 1795	31 December 1806
4	Colonel William Paterson	1 January 1806	24 March 1808
5	Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Foveaux	25 March 1808	9 January 1809
6	The Hon. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Maurice O'Connell	10 January 1810	12 February 1814
7	Colonel George Molle	13 February 1814	12 September 1817
8	Colonel James Erskine CB	12 September 1817	25 February 1823
9	Colonel William Stewart	26 February 1823	23 March 1827
	Unknown	24 March 1827	4 December 1837
10	Lieutenant-Colonel Kenneth Snodgrass	5 December 1837	23 February 1838
	Unknown	24 February 1838	21 February 1872
11	The Rt Hon. Sir Alfred Stephen GCMG CB	22 February 1872	15 January 1891
12	The Rt Hon. Sir Frederick Darley GCMG	16 January 1891	4th January 1910
13	The Hon. Sir William Cullen KCMG LLD	28th January 1910	27 January 1930
14	The Hon. Sir Philip Street KCMG KStJ	28 January 1930	11 September 1938
15	The Hon. Sir Frederick Jordan KCMG	12 September 1938	4 November 1949
16	The Hon. Sir Kenneth Street KCMG KStJ	6 January 1950	19 February 1972
17	The Hon. Sir Leslie Herron KBE CMG KStJ	22 May 1972	3 November 1973
18	The Hon. Sir Laurence Street KCMG AC KStJ	28 June 1974	1 November 1988
19	The Hon. Murray Gleeson AC QC	2 November 1988	31 March 1998
20	The Hon. James Spigelman AC QC	1 April 1998	Present