The Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria is a government position in the state of

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...

, acting as a deputy to the

Governor of Victoria The governor of Victoria is the representative of the monarch, King Charles III, in the Australian state of Victoria. The governor is one of seven viceregal representatives in the country, analogous to the governors of the other states, and the ...

. When the governor is out of the state, the lieutenant-governor acts as the governor. This office has often been held concurrently by the

Chief Justice of Victoria The Chief Justice of Victoria is the senior judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria and the highest ranking judicial officer in the Australian state of Victoria. The Chief Justice is both the judicial head of the Supreme Court as well as the admin ...

History

Prior to the separation of the colony of Victoria from

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 ...

in 1851, the area was called the

Port Phillip District The Port Phillip District was an administrative division of the Colony of New South Wales from 9 September 1836 until 1 July 1851, when it was separated from New South Wales and became the Colony of Victoria. In September 1836, NSW Colonial Sec ...

. The

Governor 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 ...

appointed superintendents of the District. In 1839, Captain

Charles La Trobe Charles la Trobe, CB (20 March 18014 December 1875), commonly Latrobe, was appointed in 1839 superintendent of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales and, after the establishment in 1851 of the colony of Victoria (now a state of Australi ...

was appointed superintendent. La Trobe became Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria on Victoria's separation from New South Wales on 1 July 1851. On Victoria obtaining responsible government in May 1855, the title of the then incumbent lieutenant-governor, Captain Sir

Charles Hotham Sir Charles Hotham, KCB, RN (14 January 180631 December 1855)B. A. Knox,Hotham, Sir Charles (1806–1855), '' Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 4, MUP, 1972, pp 429-430. was Lieutenant-Governor and, later, Governor of Victoria, ...

, became the

. When Victoria became a state, the

letters patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...

provided for a lieutenant-governor, but the office was not filled. Instead, following the practice in New South Wales, the

acted as the governor when required. This changed on 6 November 1886, when Sir

William Stawell Sir William Foster Stawell KCMG (27 June 181512 March 1889) was a British colonial statesman and a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia. Stawell was the first Attorney-General of Victoria, serving from 1851 to 1856 as an ap ...

, the outgoing Chief Justice, was appointed lieutenant governor. The conferring of honors on retiring dignitaries was a common practice in the UK at the time. After his death in 1889, the position again became vacant until Sir

John Madden John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight pla ...

was appointed lieutenant-governor on 10 June 1899. He had already acted as governor by virtue of being Chief Justice, but in line with Stawell's precedent, his direct appointment as lieutenant-governor superseded the administrative power of the Chief Justice.

List of lieutenant-governors of Victoria

References

External links

Official Website of the Governor of Victoria
{{Government of Victoria *

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...