The governor of Queensland is the representative in the state of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

of the

monarch of Australia The monarchy of Australia is Australia's form of government embodied by the Australian sovereign and head of state. The Australian monarchy is a constitutional monarchy, modelled on the Westminster system of parliamentary government, while in ...

. In an analogous way to the

governor-general of Australia The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.performs constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level. In particular the governor has the power to appoint and dismiss the

premier of Queensland The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is ap ...

and all other ministers in the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

, and issue writs for the election of the state parliament. The current governor of Queensland, former

Chief Health Officer A medical officer of health, also known as a medical health officer, chief health officer, chief public health officer or district medical officer, is the title commonly used for the senior government official of a health department, usually at a m ...

of Queensland

Jeannette Young Jeannette Rosita Young (born 1963) is an Australian medical doctor and administrator who is the current governor of the state of Queensland. Before being sworn in as governor, Young was the Chief Health Officer of Queensland from 2005 to 2021. ...

, was sworn in on 1 November 2021. The chief justice of the

Supreme Court of Queensland The Supreme Court of Queensland is the highest court in the Australian State of Queensland. It was formerly the Brisbane Supreme Court, in the colony of Queensland. The original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court allows its trial division to he ...

, currently

Helen Bowskill Helen may refer to: People * Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world * Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress * Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Places * Helen, G ...

, acts in the position of governor in the governor’s absence. As from June 2014, Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

, upon the recommendation of then-Premier

Campbell Newman Campbell Kevin Thomas Newman (born 12 August 1963) is a former Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of Queensland from 26 March 2012 to 14 February 2015. He served as the member for Ashgrove in the Legislative Assembly of Quee ...

, accorded all current, future and living former governors the title '

The Honourable ''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certain ...

' in perpetuity.

Official residence

The governor of Queensland has resided at

Government House, Brisbane Government House is a heritage-listed mansion at 170 Fernberg Road, Paddington, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is the official residence of the governor of Queensland, the representative of the Australian monarch in Queensland. It was ori ...

since 1910. The mansion, set in of gardens and bushland in the

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

suburb of Paddington, is also known as "Fernberg". Unlike Fernberg, the original

Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries. Gover ...

was purpose-built and was used from 1862 to 1910; the building still exists today on the grounds of

Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The univ ...

Constitutional provisions

The office of governor is established by the

Constitution of Queensland The Constitution of Queensland is the constitution of the Australian state of Queensland. As with the other constitutions of Australian states and territories, it is a written constitution influenced by the Westminster system and Australia's ...

. 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 Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen (13 January 191123 April 2005), known as Joh Bjelke-Petersen, was a conservative Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, during ...

, who feared that the office and powers of state governor might be abolished following the controversies of the

1975 Australian constitutional crisis The 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, also known simply as the Dismissal, culminated on 11 November 1975 with the dismissal from office of the prime minister, Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), by Governor-General Sir Jo ...

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

. Nevertheless, the governor retains the

reserve powers Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US v ...

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 the new leader of the National Party, Bjelke-Petersen initially refused to resign as premier and Sir Walter resisted calls to dismiss him. Bjelke-Petersen 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 The chief justice of Queensland is the senior judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland and the highest ranking judicial officer in the Australian state of Queensland. The chief justice is both the judicial head of the Supreme Court, as well as t ...

and other judges in the Queensland judicial system are appointed by the governor acting on the advice of the Executive Council.

Governor's standard

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 File: Flag of the Governor of Queensland (1870–1876).svg, 1870–1876 File: Flag of the Governor of Queensland (1876–1901).svg, 1876–1901, bearing an

Imperial crown An Imperial Crown is a crown used for the coronation of emperors. Design Crowns in Europe during the Middle Ages varied in design: During the Middle Ages the crowns worn by English kings had been described as both closed (or arched) and op ...

File:Flag of the Governor of Queensland (1901-1952).svg , 1901–1953, bearing a

Tudor crown The Tudor Crown, also known as Henry VIII's Crown, was the imperial and state crown of English monarchs from around the time of Henry VIII until it was destroyed during the Civil War in 1649. It was described by the art historian Sir Roy St ...

File:Flag of the Governor of Queensland.svg, 1953–present, bearing a

St. Edward's crown St Edward's Crown is the centrepiece of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. Named after Saint Edward the Confessor, versions of it have traditionally been used to crown English and British monarchs at Coronation of the British monarch, the ...

List of governors of Queensland

The first Australian- (and Queensland-) born Governor of Queensland was Lieutenant-General Sir John Lavarack (appointed 1946). His successor, Sir

Henry Abel Smith Colonel Sir Henry Abel Smith, (8 March 1900 – 24 January 1993) was a British Army officer who served as Governor of Queensland, Australia. He married Lady May Cambridge, a niece of Queen Mary, consort of King George V. Early life and fa ...

was British. All subsequent governors have been Australian-born, except for

Leneen Forde Mary Marguerite Leneen Forde, DStJ (born 12 May 1935) is a retired solicitor and former Chancellor of Griffith University, who served as the 22nd Governor of Queensland from 1992 until 1997. Forde chaired the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse o ...

, who was born in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

but who emigrated to Australia at an early age. Prior to the

separation of Queensland The Separation of Queensland was an event in 1859 in which the land that forms the present-day State of Queensland in Australia was excised from the Colony of New South Wales and created as a separate Colony of Queensland. History European sett ...

in 1859, it was part of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

under the

governors of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the ...

List of administrators and lieutenant-governors of Queensland

Administrators Administrator or admin may refer to: Job roles Computing and internet * Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database * Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum * N ...

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

(or the most senior judge available). The following are the administrators and lieutenant-governors of Queensland:

References

External links

Official Website of the Governor of Queensland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Governor Of Queensland * Parliament of Queensland

Queensland-related lists