Governor-General of Australia

“ For instance, we may all know who are the President and Ministers of the United States, or the Governor-General and Ministers of Canada, but how few of us know anything of the local Governments of the State of California, or of the Province of British Columbia? The State and Provinces are merged in the central Government and Legislature, and it will be difficult to convince the colonies of Australia that it is desirable to sink their individual prominence, and become merely a factor in the central Government. ”

“ With our vast territory and its splendid resources our united increase should rather be 10,000 per week.
The Federal Parliament.— (1) To be composed of one House only, which shall elect a Premier and an Executive or Minister, (2) To consist of a Governor-General, who shall be its President, seven Colonial Governors, and twenty-one Federal Representatives, making in all twenty-nine members, but giving, when New South Wales and South Australia each form a new colony, a House of thirty-seven members. ”

“ On the creation of the commonwealth of Australia Hopetoun seemed indicated by colonial opinion as the first governor-general, and the office was conferred on him in August 1900. He was made Knight of the Thistle and G.C.V.O. On his way out he visited India, where he had a severe attack of typhoid fever. ”

“ Administrator William Leonard TAYLOR (since 4 February 1999) elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; administrator appointed by the governor general of Australia and represents the monarch and Australia
Legislative branch: unicameral Christmas Island Shire Council (9 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve one-year terms) election results: percent of vote - NA%; seats - independents 9 elections: last held NA December 2001 (next to be held NA December 2002)
Judicial branch: Supreme Court ”

“ In Australia itself there seemed to be only one opinion. The Earl of Hopetoun was easily favourite.
It may be safely said that no Governor of any of the Australian colonies up to that time had so successfully represented the Throne. Those who were in Melbourne on his arrival when he became Governor of Victoria well remember a man of somewhat light build, middle height, pale, clean-shaven, youthful in appearance. ”

“ Consequently, Western Australia had not yet, in a political sense, produced great men as such an expression as understood in other Australian colonies. The old constitution, also, did not tend to improve the character of the people. They were intermittently dissatisfied, and laboured under the impression, rightly or wrongly, that they were not receiving fair treatment from the Imperial Government. The Governor might be supposed to carefully guard his public utterances, so that he should find favour in the eyes of his master, the Secretary for the Colonies. ”

“ He was nominated for the third time governor of Western Australia, that he might by his administrative experience and previous knowledge of the colony facilitate the inauguration of responsible government in the last Australian crown colony. While in London he rendered considerable assistance both to the colonial office and to the Western Australia delegation in aiding the passage of the constitution bill through parliament. He left England for Perth in September 1890. He retired from active service in 1895. ”

“ Administration.—In 1890 Western Australia, up to that time a crown colony administered by a governor, was granted responsible government. The legislative authority is vested in a parliament composed of two Houses—a Legislative Council, whose thirty members are elected for six years, and a Legislative Assembly of fifty members, elected by adult suffrage (men and women) . As a portion of the Commonwealth, Western Australia sends six senators and five representatives to the federal parliament. In a country so sparsely settled municipal government has little scope for operation. ”

“ The total population of Western Australia in 1861 was 15,691, and in 1868, 22,733, made up of 14,539 males and 8,194 females.
The administration of Governor Hampton is significant for an important change—the inauguration of a semi-elective form of government. When it became known that the transportation of convicts was to cease, colonists considered that they were justified in asking to be allowed to elect representatives to the Legislative Council. ”

“ Under Representative Government a community might contain men of very superior intelligence, but they could never be proved. The local administration was made up of men sent specially from England, and Mr. John Forrest may be said to have been the only Western Australian who held administrative office for any length of time. Under the old system in the Legislative Council there was no scope for great attainments, and when a politician went out of the beaten track he was apt to be brought up sharply by the Governor's power of veto. ”

“ His administration made a considerable impression in Downing Street, and in 1869 he was appointed governor of Western Australia. In his new sphere Weld continued to do well. He obtained the introduction of an elective element into the Legislative Council, and encouraged the establishment of municipal institutions; an education act passed in 1871 provided for the equality of all religious denominations. His administration coincided with a period of distinct development in the colony ”

“ A person (the first person) is guilty of an offence if: (a) the first person makes to another person (the second person) a threat to cause serious harm to the second person or to a third person; and (b) the second person or the third person is a former Governor‐General, a former Minister or a former Parliamentary Secretary; and (c) the first person: (i) intends the second person to fear that the threat will be carried out; or (ii) is reckless as to causing the second person to fear that the threat will be carried out ”

“ His political principles are of the liberal and democratic order, and he considers that Western Australia is at present passing through a transition period, in which the policy based on the old traditions of the colony will go to the wall, and a new era will be inaugurated in consonance with the advanced ideas of the population, based on the general progression. He is as eloquent a speaker as he is a writer, and he is sure to further his views in the House. ”

“ Are we to wait and judge, taking no responsibility, giving no help, doing nothing at all for our nation or for our race in this great work of laying the foundation of the future Australian nation? I feel that most of us here who are the architects of our own fortunes, have a feeling that we should share with our countrymen all over Australia the task of building up a great country on this Continent, and that we should stand shoulder to shoulder with them. (Applause,) That, however, is a question that will have to be determined by the people of this Colony on the 31st of July. ”

“ As things stand at present, the governor can effect nothing without the House, nor can the House effect anything without the governor. It is not so with us or in the other colonies,—as all who understand parliamentary action are aware. The governor of Western Australia is under no obligation to accede to the wish of the people as expressed by the House; but the House has the power of voting supplies, and can, of course, cause this power to be felt. ”

“ By my second condition I seek to define what seems to me an absolutely necessary condition of anything like perfect federation, that is, that Australia, as Australia, shall be free—free on the borders, free everywhere, in its trade and intercourse between its own people; and that there shall be no impediment of any kind—that there shall be no barrier of any kind between one section of the Australian people and another; but, that the trade and general communication of these people shall flow on from one end of the continent to the other, with no one to stay its progress or to call it to account ”

“ The governor of Van Diemen's Land, to whom on his return Batman sent copies of the deeds, had no authority on the mainland, even had he approved the transaction. The Sydney authorities held that the sovereignty of Australia was vested in the British crown, and that acts, real or alleged, of the native chiefs could not be recognised. ”

“ It will be from Colonies such as Queensland and South Australia that steps will be first expected to be taken, for Queensland has already shown her cards and that clever South Australian Premier is going a step farther, and when South Australia has her Lieutenant-Governor in power she will show the other Colonies the immense advantages to be derived therefrom, and they will very soon follow in her footsteps, for men of his calibre are not to be had so readily in Great Britain. ”

“ It is doubtful whether Responsible Government, in the sense of government by a Ministry which carries out a definite policy approved by the country, and, in return, receives allegiance from its {265} supporters in Parliament, has ever been acclimatised in Australasia except in New South Wales under the influence of the late Sir Henry Parkes. ”

“ Lord Carrington stands supreme in the annals of Australian history as the most popular Governor who has ever visited her shores. Since he holds a position so unique it may be as well to examine the means to which he owed his success. They lie in a nut-shell. ”

“ So soon as this was recognized, patriotic men set themselves to put things right, and the result was a Federation of the States, which is called the Commonwealth of Australia. The different States are left to manage for themselves their local affairs, but the big Australian affairs are managed by the Commonwealth Parliament, which at present meets in Melbourne, but one day will meet in a new Federal capital to be built somewhere out in the Bush—that is to say, the wild, empty country. ”

“ In the realm of art, and especially in vocal music, several Australians have excelled. The average Australian is active, alert, and keenly critical. The public men are bold and enterprising—as, for example, when in despair at the lethargy of the Imperial Government, Queensland hoisted the Union Jack in New Guinea, and secured a province for the Crown.
It is in the achievement of federation that the political initiative and resource of Australia have been most conspicuously displayed. ”

“ So far as other communities in the Empire or foreign nations are concerned, the people of Australia form one political community for which the Government of the Commonwealth alone can speak, and for everything affecting external states or communities, which takes place within its boundaries, that Government is responsible. The distribution of powers between the Federal and State Authorities is a matter of purely internal concern of which no external country or community can take any cognizance. ”

“ Writing on the prospects of Australian Federation, he said: "A new generation is close upon us; the many will know no other land than Fair Australia. They will bring, let us hope, with the tie of nativity, more ample stores of knowledge, nobler capacities for patriotic service, and an imperishable love of freedom and justice. Standing before the uplifted veil, let the meanest of us breathe a fervent prayer that the Almighty may guide the young Commonwealth on the high road of her starry future ”

“ As to the wisdom of the great step we have now taken, for so many eminent men from different parts of Australia meeting in this Chamber as delegates from their colonies is in itself a great step—as to the wisdom of that step we have the warning of every country in the world which has used government by a confederation.
Here we find a people I suppose about 4,000,000 strong. They have afforded in the great cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Hobart abundant proof of their power of founding an empire. ”

“ Until that time South Australia had had forty-one Ministries in thirty-seven years, a constant change of the responsible heads of public departments {26} which greatly impaired their efficiency and prevented continuity of administration. The absence of a stable majority in the Assembly gave the opportunity, and ambition and love of power the impetus, to continual struggles for office which were wholly unallied with any baser motives, as Australian statesmen have obtained an honourable pre-eminence for their rectitude of character. ”

“ That government must, of course, be sufficiently strong to act with effect, to act successfully, and it must be sufficiently strong to carry the name and the fame of Australia with unspotted beauty, and with uncrippled power throughout the world. One great end, to my mind, of a federated Australia is, that it must of necessity secure for Australia a place in the family of nations, which it never can attain while it is split up into separate colonies with antagonistic laws and with hardly anything in common. ”

“ The United States Government, perhaps the most progressive in the world, absolutely eschews the policy which has been strangely adopted by the Government of Western Australia. The resources of the States, as extensive as they are wealthy, have been developed more rapidly than those of any country since the dawn of history. ”

“ The states of Australia were soon left with no grievance which it was not within their own power to remedy if they chose, and virtually as they chose. Thirdly, these very powers of self-government developed in the people a signal capacity for governing and being governed. ”

“ If we are to become a nation, to be the great power in the Southern Hemisphere, it can only be by being federated, to be allied to one another, not only by the ties of nationality and kindred, but also by those material bonds which operated so strongly in our dealing with one another. Our aim should be to make Australia another Britain—another home for the Anglo-Saxon race. ”