The governor-general of Australia is the federal representative of the Australian monarch (currently ). The position came into being on 29 October 1900 with the establishment of the first Commonwealth office, just prior to the adoption of the new national constitution and has been held by 28 people since then. Because governors-general are appointed at His Majesty's pleasure, there is no fixed term, but governors-general are usually given a 5-year term.
For the first two decades after federation, governors-general were selected solely by the British government. The monarch was consulted on the decision into the 1930s. The first four governors-general were peers; Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson (appointed 1914) was the first commoner to hold the position, although he was also later elevated to the peerage. In 1920, Billy Hughes became the first prime minister to be consulted over the governor-generalship. Stanley Bruce (1925) and Joseph Lyons (1935) either asked for or were given a list of suitable candidates to choose from.
James Scullin (1930) became the first prime minister of Australia to exercise complete discretion in the appointment; his nomination of Sir Isaac Isaacs made Australia the first Dominion to have a native-born governor-general. In 1945, John Curtin nominated Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, to the post. Henry was the first and only royal officeholder to take up the office â in October 1938, Prince George, Duke of Kent had been announced as successor to Lord Gowrie with effect from November 1939, but on 11 September 1939, the Duke's appointment was postponed due to the outbreak of the Second World War. Prince George died in 1942 and thus his appointment never eventuated, instead Lord Gowrie continued in office in Australia until 1945, creating a still-unsurpassed record term of over 9 years. A second Australian (William McKell) was appointed in 1947; he was followed by three more Britons, each chosen by Sir Robert Menzies. Menzies's fourth nomination was Richard Casey, who took office in 1965; he and all subsequent governors-general have been Australian citizens. All Australian states except South Australia and Tasmania have provided at least one appointee (although the latter of these provided an Administrator of the Commonwealth for several months in 2003). The first female governor-general, Quentin Bryce, took office in 2008.
This is a graphical lifespan timeline of the governors-general of Australia. They are listed in order of first assuming office.
The following chart lists governors-general by lifespan (living governors-general on the green line), with the years outside of their governor-generalship in beige.
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The following chart shows governors-general by their age (living governors-general in green), with the years of their governor-generalship in blue.