Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Governor of Western Australia

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Style
  
Her Excellency

Formation
  
6 February 1832

Appointer
  
Australian monarch

First holder
  
Captain James Stirling

Governor of Western Australia

Residence
  
Government House, Perth

Term length
  
At His/Her Majesty's pleasure

The Governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the Queen of Australia, Elizabeth II. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the Governor of Western Australia performs important constitutional, ceremonial and community functions, including:

Contents

  • presiding over the Executive Council;
  • proroguing and dissolving the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council;
  • issuing writs for elections; and
  • appointing Ministers, Judges, Magistrates and Justices of the Peace.
  • Furthermore, all Bills passed by the Parliament of Western Australia require the Governor's signature before they become Acts and pass into law.

    The current governor is Kerry Sanderson, who is the first woman to hold the position. She succeeded Malcolm McCusker in October 2014. Until the appointment of Sir James Mitchell in 1948, all governors of Western Australia had been British officials. After Mitchell's appointment, a further three Britons served as governor: Mitchell's two immediate successors, and then, from 1980 to 1983, Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Trowbridge, who was the last British governor of any Australian state.

    Styles and titles

    The Governor of Western Australia is styled Her Excellency during her term in office (or His Excellency, for a male governor). In August 2014, three of the four living past governors – John Sanderson, Ken Michael, and Malcolm McCusker – were given the title "The Honourable", on the recommendation of the premier. The other living former governor, Michael Jeffery, already held the title, in virtue of his later service as Governor-General of Australia.

    List of Lieutenant Governors of the Swan River Colony and Governors of Western Australia

    This is a list of Governors and Lieutenant-Governors of Western Australia.

    Lieutenant Governors of the Swan River Colony

    Stirling was in fact only commissioned as Governor of Western Australia from 4 March 1831, rectifying the absence of a legal instrument providing the authority detailed in Stirling's Instructions of 30 December 1828. Stirling had said of his own position:

    I believe I am the first Governor who ever formed a settlement without Commission, Laws, Instructions and Salary.

    Living former governors

    Four former governors are alive, the oldest being Michael Jeffery. The most recent governor to die was Sir Francis Burt, on 8 September 2004.

    References

    Governor of Western Australia Wikipedia