X-Nico

unusual facts about List of Governors-General of Australia



1973 Murphy raids

The raids were commissioned by Lionel Murphy, the Attorney-General of Australia, who accused the ASIO of deliberately withholding vital information related to a group of Australian-based Croatian terrorists called the Ustasha.

9th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment

On 29 April 1971, the battalion finally received its colours at a ceremony at Enoggera presided over by the Governor-General of Australia, Sir Paul Hasluck.

Argyle Downs

The Governor General, Lord Gowrie, was a guest of the Duracks at the Station in 1939 during his farewell tour.

Ateca Ganilau

Ganilau is married to National Alliance Party leader Ratu Epeli Ganilau, who is the son of the late Governor-General and President, Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau.

Australia Card

In response, Hawke asked the Governor-General Sir Ninian Stephen for a double dissolution, which was granted on 5 June 1987, followed by an election on 11 July.

Australian federal election, 1974

After a great deal of legalistic argumentation in both houses about the Gair matter, and justified by the failure of six (non-supply) bills to pass the Senate, Whitlam requested and was granted by Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck a double dissolution under section 57 of the Constitution.

Australian Labor Party leadership spill, 2012

The Second Gillard Ministry was sworn in on 14 September 2010 by Governor-General Quentin Bryce, with Rudd accepting an offer from Gillard to become Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Australian National Socialist Party

Attorney-General Billy Snedden told parliament that the party was under surveillance and probably had a membership of fewer than 100.

Australian War Memorial

It was officially opened following a Remembrance Day ceremony on 11 November 1941 by the then Governor-General Lord Gowrie, himself a former soldier whose honours included the Victoria Cross.

Canberra Day

Canberra was named at a ceremony on 12 March 1913 by Lady Denman, the wife of the then Governor-General Lord Denman.

Charles Powers

He played a key role in preparing the prosecution in the Coal Vend cases, arising out of prosecutions brought by then Attorney-General of Australia Billy Hughes against a coal industry cartel.

Cuba national cricket team

Cuba's first international match in 1952, against a Jamaican team, included Jamaica's former Governor-General, Howard Cooke.

Daniel Knox, 6th Earl of Ranfurly

He and his wife met in 1937 when he was an aide-de-camp to Lord Gowrie, the Governor-General of Australia, an appointment Ranfurly held from 1936 to 1938.

Dayendranath Burrenchobay

Sir Dayendranath Burrenchobay KBE, CMG, CVO, GCSK, (Born as सर डयेन्द्रनथ बुर्रेन्चोबय 24 March 1919 – 29 March 1999) was born in Plaine Magnien, Mauritius and served as Governor-General of Mauritius.

Division of La Trobe

The first person to hold the seat was Richard Casey, Baron Casey, later the sixteenth Governor-General of Australia and the last of three Australian politicians to be elevated to the British House of Lords.

Drumthwacket

(It is one of only four official governor's residences in the country that is not located within its state capital; the other three are in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Tennessee.)

Epenisa Cakobau

The son of the late Ratu Sir George Cakobau (1912–1989), the former Vunivalu of Bau (Paramount Chief of Kubuna (1957–1989) and Governor-General of Fiji (1983-1983), he is also a great-great grandson of Seru Epenisa Cakobau, the warlord who established the first unified Fijian Kingdom in 1871 and ceded it to the United Kingdom in 1874.

Eric Woodward

For part of his term in office, as the longest-serving Governor, he acted as Administrator of the Commonwealth of Australia from 16 June to 30 August 1964 in the absence of the Governor-General of Australia, The Viscount De L'Isle.

Ernest Llewellyn

Later that month the retiring Governor-General Sir Zelman Cowen announced that the proceeds of his farewell concert would be devoted to the Ernest Llewellyn Memorial Scholarship, to help young musicians and the advancement of string playing in Australia.

Gair Affair

On 21 March, Gough Whitlam advised the Parliament that he had obtained the concurrence of the Governor-General, Sir Paul Hasluck, to hold a half-Senate election on 18 May 1974, and the timing of the issue of the writs was a matter of discussion between the Governor-General and the state governors.

George Barney

Barney's North Sydney house, Wotonga, was later acquired by the Commonwealth and, after extensions, became Admiralty House, the Sydney residence of the Governor-General of Australia.

George Cakobau, Jr.

The son of the late Governor-General, Ratu Sir George Cakobau, who was also the Vunivalu of Bau (widely considered to be Fiji's most senior chiefly position).

John Morphett

In 1921, the area, which also included that part of Cummins Estate where Cummins House is located, was renamed to Novar Gardens to honour Viscount Novar, (who as Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson was the sixth Governor-General of Australia from 1914 to 1920).

Josiah Symon

Hon Sir Josiah Henry Symon KCMG (27 September 1846 – 29 March 1934), Scottish-Australian lawyer and politician, was a member of the Australian Senate in the First Australian Parliament, and an Attorney-General of Australia.

Julian A. Pitt-Rivers

His father was the anthropologist and propertied aristocrat George Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers and his mother, Emily Rachel Forster, was an actress and daughter of the governor-general of Australia, the 1st Baron Forster.

Kim Carr

After the Labor's victory in the 2007 federal election, the new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd appointed Carr as Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, and he was sworn into office by Governor-General Michael Jeffery on 3 December.

King–Byng Affair

The King–Byng Affair was the most controversial use of a governor general's reserve powers until the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975, in which the Governor-General of Australia, John Kerr, dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.

Lancelot de Mole

At the formal investiture of the award, on 28 July 1921, in the ballroom of the New South Wales' State Government House, Lord Forster, the seventh Governor-General of Australia, was so nervous that he dropped the decoration before it could be pinned on de Mole's chest.

Machinery of government

At the Commonwealth Government level, Administrative Arrangements Orders (AAOs) are made by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister formally allocating executive responsibility among ministers.

Malcolm Hazell

He was the Official Secretary to two Governors-General of Australia, Peter Hollingworth (2003) and Major-General Michael Jeffery (2003–2008).

In 2003, he became Official Secretary to the Governor-General of Australia, Peter Hollingworth.

Marcus de Laune Faunce

Marcus de Laune "Marc" Faunce, CVO, AM, OBE, FRCP, FRACP (5 December 1922 – 14 June 2004) was a Canberra consultant physician, head of Royal Canberra Hospital, doctor to five Australian Prime Ministers and six Governors-General of Australia and former Senior Physician Consultant to the RAAF.

Mary Stevenson

She was a commandant of No. 750 Voluntary Aid Detachment during the Second World War, and was awarded a citation from the Duchess of Gloucester in her capacity as spouse of the Governor-General.

Phillip Bennett

Sir Phillip on several occasions also became Administrator of the Commonwealth during overseas visits by the then Governor-General, Bill Hayden.

Pioneer Sergeant

In Australia, the tradition began in 1965 when Governor-General Lord De L’Isle presented the 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (4RAR), with its Colours.

Ralph Slatyer

Fraser had originally offered the post to Sir John Kerr, who as Governor-General had been responsible for the dismissal of Gough Whitlam's government in the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, but considerable public pressure prompted Fraser to withdraw the offer to Kerr, and offer the post to Slatyer instead.

Sir Ninian Stephen Lecture

The first lecture was delivered by former Governor-General of Australia Sir Ninian Stephen in 1993, to celebrate the establishment of the Bachelor of Laws program at the University.

The Australiana Fund

The Australiana Fund is an independent fundraising organisation responsible for the purchase and maintenance of artworks in the four Official Residences of the Governor-General of Australia and the Prime Minister of Australia.

Torinturk

He served as a Cabinet minister during World War Two; as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1951-1959, and as Governor-General of Australia from 1960-1961.

Vadakalai

Premier of Madras (1937–1939), Governor of Bengal (1946–1948), Governor-General of India (1948–1950), Union Home Minister (1950–1952) and Chief Minister of Madras state (1952–1954).

Wayne Berry

As Speaker, in 2006, he met with the Australian Governor-General, Major General Michael Jeffery and urged him not to disallow the ACT's civil union legislation.

William Fontaine

The next year, he traveled to Lagos, Nigeria, where he celebrated the inauguration of his classmate, Nnamdi Azikiwe as Governor General.

William Heseltine

He was Private Secretary to Sir Robert Menzies, Prime Minister, 1955–1959, and Acting Official Secretary to Viscount De L'Isle, Governor-General, May to August 1962.

William McKell

His Official Secretary for the first few weeks was Sir Leighton Bracegirdle, whose retirement was overdue after serving McKell's three predecessors over 16 years.


see also