Secretary for Public Works of New South Wales | |
---|---|
Long serving minister Joseph Cahill | |
Appointer | Governor of New South Wales |
Precursor | Secretary for Lands and Works |
Formation | 1 October 1859 |
First holder | Edward Flood |
Final holder | Morris Iemma |
Abolished | 2 April 2003 |
The Secretary for Public Works, later the Minister for Public Works was a long standing ministry in the administration of New South Wales created in 1859 and abolished in 2003.
Role and responsibilities
The Secretary for Lands and Works was one of the first ministries in the colonial administration of New South Wales and the land issue dominated the politics of the late 1850s. In October 1859, towards the end of the second Cowper ministry, the ministry was split into two ministries, the Secretary for Lands and the Secretary for Public Works, which enabled John Robertson to concentrate on what became known as the Robertson Land Acts, William Forster put forward and alternate explanation, that Cowper had created the position and appointed Flood in an unsuccessful attempt to strengthen his parliamentary position. The department had two main functions:
- The administration of the construction and maintenance of public works, including water supply, sewerage, electricity supply, railways, tramways, roads and electric telegraph; harbours and river navigation, the Civil Engineer (Dry Docks, Cockatoo Island), defence works and the Colonial Architect and
- A Board which oversaw how tenders for public works were administered.
In 1906 the Secretary assumed responsibility for local government.
List of secretaries and ministers
Title | Minister | Party | Ministry | Term start | Term end | Time in office | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Secretary for Public Works | Edward Flood | No party | Forster | 1 October 1859 | 26 October 1859 | 25 days | ||
Geoffrey Eagar | 27 October 1859 | 8 March 1860 | 133 days | |||||
William Arnold | Robertson (1) Cowper (3) |
9 March 1860 | 15 October 1863 | 3 years, 220 days | ||||
Arthur Holroyd | Martin (1) | 16 October 1863 | 2 February 1865 | 1 year, 109 days | ||||
William Arnold | Cowper (4) | 3 February 1865 | 19 October 1865 | 258 days | ||||
Thomas Smart | 20 October 1865 | 21 January 1866 | 93 days | |||||
James Byrnes | Martin (2) | 22 January 1866 | 26 October 1868 | 2 years, 278 days | ||||
John Sutherland | Robertson (2) Cowper (5) |
27 October 1868 | 15 December 1870 | 2 years, 49 days | ||||
James Byrnes | Martin (3) | 16 December 1870 | 13 May 1872 | 1 year, 149 days | ||||
John Sutherland | Parkes (1) | 14 May 1872 | 8 February 1875 | 2 years, 270 days | ||||
John Lackey | Robertson (3) | 9 February 1875 | 21 March 1877 | 2 years, 40 days | ||||
James Hoskins | Parkes (2) | 22 March 1877 | 16 August 1877 | 147 days | ||||
Edward Combes | Robertson (4) | 17 August 1877 | 17 December 1877 | 122 days | ||||
John Sutherland | Farnell | 18 December 1877 | 20 December 1878 | 1 year, 2 days | ||||
John Lackey | Parkes (3) | 21 December 1878 | 4 January 1883 | 4 years, 14 days | ||||
Henry Copeland | Stuart | 5 January 1883 | 28 March 1883 | 82 days | ||||
Francis Wright | 28 May 1883 | 6 October 1885 | 2 years, 131 days | |||||
Henry Badgery | Dibbs (1) | 7 October 1885 | 31 October 1885 | 24 days | ||||
William Lyne | 2 November 1885 | 21 December 1885 | 49 days | |||||
Jacob Garrard | Robertson (5) | 22 December 1885 | 25 February 1886 | 65 days | ||||
William Lyne | Jennings | 26 February 1886 | 19 January 1887 | 327 days | ||||
John Sutherland | Free Trade | Parkes (4) | 20 January 1887 | 16 January 1889 | 1 year, 362 days | |||
James Fletcher | Protectionist | Dibbs (2) | 17 January 1889 | 7 March 1889 | 49 days | |||
Bruce Smith | Free Trade | Parkes (5) | 8 March 1889 | 13 August 1891 | 2 years, 158 days | |||
James Young | 14 August 1891 | 22 October 1891 | 69 days | |||||
William Lyne | Protectionist | Dibbs (3) | 23 October 1891 | 2 August 1894 | 2 years, 283 days | |||
James Young | Free Trade | Reid | 3 August 1894 | 3 July 1899 | 4 years, 334 days | |||
Charles Lee | 3 July 1899 | 13 September 1899 | 72 days | |||||
Edward O'Sullivan | Protectionist | Lyne | 14 September 1899 | 27 March 1901 | 1 year, 194 days | |||
Progressive | See | 28 March 1901 | 14 June 1904 | 3 years, 78 days | ||||
Walter Bennett | Waddell | 15 June 1904 | 29 August 1904 | 75 days | ||||
Charles Lee | Liberal Reform | Carruthers Wade |
29 August 1904 | 20 October 1910 | 6 years, 52 days | |||
Minister for Public Works | Arthur Griffith | Labor | McGowen Holman (1) |
21 October 1910 | 15 March 1915 | 4 years, 145 days | ||
John Cann | Holman (1) | 15 March 1915 | 15 November 1916 | 1 year, 245 days | ||||
Secretary for Public Works | Richard Ball | Nationalist | Holman (2) | 15 November 1916 | 12 April 1920 | 3 years, 149 days | ||
John Estell | Labor | Storey Dooley (1) |
12 April 1920 | 20 December 1921 | 1 year, 252 days | |||
Sir Thomas Henley | Nationalist | Fuller (1) | 20 December 1921 | 20 December 1921 | 7 hours | |||
John Estell | Labor | Dooley (2) | 20 December 1921 | 13 April 1922 | 114 days | |||
Sir Thomas Henley | Nationalist | Fuller (2) | 13 April 1922 | 19 June 1922 | 67 days | |||
Richard Ball | 28 June 1922 | 17 June 1925 | 2 years, 354 days | |||||
Martin Flannery | Labor | Lang (1) | 17 June 1925 | 26 May 1927 | 1 year, 343 days | |||
Bill Ratcliffe | Lang (2) | 27 May 1927 | 18 October 1927 | 144 days | ||||
Ernest Buttenshaw | Country | Bavin | 18 October 1927 | 3 November 1930 | 3 years, 16 days | |||
Mat Davidson | Labor | Lang (3) | 4 November 1930 | 15 October 1931 | 345 days | |||
Labor (NSW) | 15 October 1931 | 13 May 1932 | 211 days | |||||
Reginald Weaver | United Australia | Stevens (1) | 16 May 1932 | 10 February 1935 | 2 years, 270 days | |||
Bertram Stevens | Stevens (2) | 10 February 1935 | 21 August 1935 | 192 days | ||||
Eric Spooner | Stevens (2) (3) | 22 August 1935 | 21 July 1939 | 3 years, 333 days | ||||
Bertram Stevens | Mair | 21 July 1939 | 5 August 1939 | 15 days | ||||
Alexander Mair | 5 August 1939 | 16 August 1939 | 11 days | |||||
Lewis Martin | 16 August 1939 | 16 May 1941 | 1 year, 273 days | |||||
Joseph Cahill | Labor | McKell (1) (2) McGirr (1) (2) (3) |
16 May 1941 | 2 April 1952 | 10 years, 322 days | |||
Jack Renshaw | Cahill (1) (2) | 3 April 1952 | 15 March 1956 | 3 years, 347 days | ||||
John McGrath | Cahill (3) | 15 March 1956 | 1 April 1959 | 3 years, 17 days | ||||
Minister for Public Works | Norm Ryan | Cahill (4) Heffron (1) (2) Renshaw |
1 April 1959 | 13 May 1965 | 6 years, 42 days | |||
Davis Hughes | Country | Askin (1) (2) (3) (4) | 13 May 1965 | 17 January 1973 | 7 years, 249 days | |||
Leon Punch | Askin (5) (6) Lewis (1) (2) |
17 January 1973 | 14 May 1976 | 3 years, 118 days | ||||
Jack Ferguson | Labor | Wran (1) (2) (3) (4) | 14 May 1976 | 10 February 1984 | 7 years, 272 days | |||
Laurie Brereton | Wran (5) (6) (7) | 10 February 1984 | 6 February 1986 | 1 year, 361 days | ||||
Minister for Public Works and Ports | Wran (8) Unsworth |
6 February 1986 | 26 November 1987 | 1 year, 293 days | ||||
Minister for Public Works | Peter Cox | Unsworth | 26 November 1987 | 21 March 1988 | 116 days | |||
Wal Murray | National | Greiner (1) (2) Fahey (1) (2) |
21 March 1988 | 26 May 1993 | 5 years, 66 days | |||
Ian Armstrong | Fahey (3) | 26 May 1993 | 4 April 1995 | 1 year, 313 days | ||||
Minister for Public Works and Services | Michael Knight | Labor | Carr (1) | 4 April 1995 | 15 December 1995 | 255 days | ||
Carl Scully | 15 December 1995 | 1 December 1997 | 1 year, 351 days | |||||
Ron Dyer | Carr (2) | 1 December 1997 | 8 April 1999 | 1 year, 128 days | ||||
Morris Iemma | Carr (3) | 8 April 1999 | 2 April 2003 | 3 years, 359 days |
References
- ^ "Part 6 Ministries since 1856" (PDF). NSW Parliamentary Record. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
- Nairn, Bede. "Robertson, Sir John (1816–1891)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
- "Mr Flood". The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser. 13 October 1859. p. 2. Retrieved 14 December 2020 – via Trove.
- Rathbone, R W. "Flood, Edward (1805-1888)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
- "AGY-45 Department of (Secretary of) Public Works". NSW State Records & Archives. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
- "AGY-3082 Department of Public Works [II]". NSW State Records & Archives. Retrieved 14 December 2020.