Premiers_of_Victoria

Premiers of Victoria

See Premiers of the Australian states for a description and history of the office of Premier.

Premier of Victoria (Australia)
Ministry
Provincial/State


Incumbent: John Brumby
Style:	The Honourable
Appointed by:	David de Kretser as Governor of Victoria
First :	Dr William Clark Haines
Formation:	30 November 1855

Before the 1890s, there was no formal party system in Victoria. Party labels before that time indicate a general tendency only. From the 1880s, until after Federation in 1901, Victorian politics were dominated by Protectionist Liberals, who were opposed by Free Trade Conservatives. The Labor Party did not emerge as a major party until after 1910, which meant that Victoria was slow to develop a two-party system. Labor did not win a majority in the Legislative Assembly until 1952, and until that time weak minority governments were common. Since 1952, Victoria has had a stable two-party system.

List of Premiers of Victoria

	No.	Name	Party in govt	Assumed office	Left office	Days in office
	1	William Clark Haines		30 November 1855	11 March 1857	468
	2	John O'Shanassy		11 March 1857	29 April 1857	50
	-	William Clark Haines (2nd time)		29 April 1857	10 March 1858	316
	-	John O'Shanassy (2nd time)		10 March 1858	27 October 1859	597
	3	William Nicholson		27 October 1859	26 November 1860	367
	4	Richard Heales		26 November 1860	14 November 1861	354
	-	John O'Shanassy (3rd time)		14 November 1861	27 June 1863	591
	5	James McCulloch		27 June 1863	6 May 1868	1776
	6	Charles Sladen		6 May 1868	11 July 1868	67
	-	James McCulloch (2nd time)		11 July 1868	20 September 1869	437
	7	John Alexander MacPherson		20 September 1869	9 April 1870	202
	-	James McCulloch (3rd time)		9 April 1870	19 June 1871	437
	8	Charles Gavan Duffy		19 June 1871	10 June 1872	358
	9	James Goodall Francis		10 June 1872	31 July 1874	782
	10	George Briscoe Kerferd		31 July 1874	7 August 1875	373
	11	Graham Berry		7 August 1875	20 October 1875	75
	-	James McCulloch (4th time)		20 October 1875	21 May 1877	580
	-	Graham Berry (2nd time)		21 May 1877	5 March 1880	1020
	12	James Service		5 March 1880	3 August 1880	152
	-	Graham Berry (3rd time)		3 August 1880	9 July 1881	341
	13	Sir Bryan O'Loghlen		9 July 1881	8 March 1883	608
	-	James Service (2nd time)		8 March 1883	18 February 1886	1079
	14	Duncan Gillies	Conservative-Liberal Coalition	18 February 1886	5 November 1890	1722
	15	James Munro	National Liberal	5 November 1890	16 February 1892	469
	16	William Shiels	Liberal	16 February 1892	23 January 1893	343
	17	Sir James Brown Patterson	Conservative	23 January 1893	27 September 1894	613
	18	Sir George Turner	Liberal	27 September 1894	5 December 1899	1896
	19	Allan McLean	Liberal	5 December 1899	19 November 1900	350
	-	Sir George Turner (2nd time)	Liberal	19 November 1900	12 February 1901	86
	20	Alexander James Peacock	Liberal	12 February 1901	10 June 1902	484
	21	William Hill Irvine	Reform	10 June 1902	16 February 1904	617
	22	Sir Thomas Bent	Reform	16 February 1904	8 January 1909	1789
	23	John Murray	Comwlth Liberal	8 January 1909	18 May 1912	1227
	24	William Alexander Watt	Comwlth Liberal	18 May 1912	9 December 1913	571
	25	George Elmslie	Labor	9 December 1913	22 December 1913	14
	-	William Alexander Watt (2nd time)	Comwlth Liberal	22 December 1913	18 June 1914	179
	-	Sir Alexander James Peacock (2nd time)	Comwlth Liberal	18 June 1914	29 November 1917	1261
	26	John Bowser	National	29 November 1917	21 March 1918	113
	27	Harry Sutherland Wightman Lawson	National	21 March 1918	7 September 1923	1997
	-	Harry Sutherland Wightman Lawson (2nd time)	National-Country Coalition	7 September 1923	19 March 1924	195
	-	Harry Sutherland Wightman Lawson (3rd time)	National	19 March 1924	28 April 1924	41
	-	Sir Alexander Peacock (3rd time)	National	28 April 1924	18 July 1924	82
	28	George Michael Prendergast	Labor	18 July 1924	18 November 1924	124
	29	John Allan	Country-National Coalition	18 November 1924	20 May 1927	914
	30	Edmond John Hogan	Labor	20 May 1927	22 November 1928	553
	31	Sir William Murray McPherson	National	22 November 1928	12 December 1929	386
	-	Edmond John Hogan (2nd time)	Labor	12 December 1929	19 May 1932	890
	32	Sir Stanley Seymour Argyle	Country Coalition	19 May 1932	2 April 1935	1049
	33	Albert Arthur Dunstan	Country	2 April 1935	14 September 1943	3088
	34	John Cain Snr	Labor	14 September 1943	18 September 1943	5
	-	Albert Arthur Dunstan (2nd time)	Country-UAP Coalition	18 September 1943	2 October 1945	746
	35	Ian MacFarlan	Liberal	2 October 1945	21 November 1945	51
	-	John Cain Snr (2nd time)	Labor	21 November 1945	20 November 1947	730
	36	Thomas Tuke Hollway	Liberal-Country Coalition	20 November 1947	3 December 1948	380
	-	Thomas Tuke Hollway (2nd time)	Liberal	3 December 1948	27 June 1950	572
	37	John Gladstone Black McDonald	Country	27 June 1950	28 October 1952	855
	-	Thomas Tuke Hollway (3rd time)	Electoral Reform	28 October 1952	31 October 1952	4
	-	John Gladstone Black McDonald (2nd time)	Country	31 October 1952	17 December 1952	48
	-	John Cain Snr (3rd time)	Labor	17 December 1952	31 March 1955	835
	-	John Cain Snr (4th time)	Labor	31 March 1955	7 June 1955	69
	38	Sir Henry Edward Bolte	Liberal and Country	7 June 1955	23 August 1972	6288
	39	Rupert James Hamer	Liberal	23 August 1972	5 June 1981	3209
	40	Lindsay Hamilton Simpson Thompson	Liberal	5 June 1981	8 April 1982	308
	41	John Cain II	Labor	8 April 1982	10 August 1990	3047
	42	Joan Elizabeth Kirner	Labor	10 August 1990	6 October 1992	789
	43	Jeffrey Gibb Kennett	Liberal-National Coalition	6 October 1992	20 October 1999	2571
	44	Stephen Phillip Bracks	Labor	20 October 1999	30 July 2007	2841
	45	John Mansfield Brumby	Labor	30 July 2007	Present

Living former premiers

As of July 2008, four former premiers are alive, the oldest being John Cain (1982–1990, born 1931). The most recent premier to die was Lindsay Thompson (1981–82), on 16 July 2008.

Name	Term as premier	Date of birth
John Cain	1982–1990	26 April 1931
Joan Kirner	1990–1992	20 June 1938
Jeff Kennett	1992–1999	2 March 1948
Steve Bracks	1999–2007	15 October 1954

Gallery of Premiers of Victoria

Dr William Haines Nov 1855 - Mar 1857 Apr 1857 - Mar 1858	Sir John O'Shanassy Mar 1857 - Apr 1857 Mar 1858 - Oct 1859 Nov 1861 - Jun 1863	William Nicholson Oct 1859 - Nov 1860	Richard Heales Nov 1860 - Nov 1861
Sir James McCulloch Jun 1863 - May 1868 Jul 1868 - Sep 1869 Apr 1870 - Jun 1871 Oct 1875 - May 1877	Charles Sladen May 1868 - Jul 1868	John MacPherson Sep 1869 - Apr 1870	Charles Gavan Duffy Jun 1871 - Jun 1872
James Francis Jun 1872 - Jul 1874	George Kerferd Jul 1874 - Aug 1875	Sir Graham Berry Aug 1875 - Oct 1875 May 1877 - Mar 1880 Aug 1880 - Jul 1881	James Service Mar 1880 - Aug 1880 Mar 1883 - Feb 1886
Sir Bryan O'Loghlen Jul 1881 - Mar 1883	Duncan Gillies Feb 1886 - Nov 1890	James Munro Nov 1890 - Feb 1892	William Shiels Feb 1892 - Jan 1893
Sir James Patterson Jan 1893 - Sep 1894	Sir George Turner Sep 1894 - Dec 1899 Nov 1900 - Feb 1901	Allan McLean Dec 1899 - Nov 1900	Sir Alexander Peacock Feb 1901 - Jun 1902 Jun 1914 - Nov 1917 Apr 1924 - Jul 1924
Sir William Irvine Jun 1902 - Feb 1904	Sir Thomas Bent Feb 1904 - Jan 1909	John Murray Jan 1909 - May 1912	Sir William Watt May 1912 - Dec 1913 Dec 1913 - Jun 1914
George Elmslie Dec 1913	Sir John Bowser Nov 1917 - Mar 1918	Sir Harry Lawson Mar 1918 - Apr 1924	George Prendergast Jul 1924 - Nov 1924
John Allan Nov 1924 - May 1927	Ned Hogan May 1927 - Nov 1928 Dec 1929 - May 1932	Sir Stanley Argyle May 1932 - Apr 1935	Albert Dunstan Apr 1935 - Sep 1943 Sep 1943 - Oct 1945
John Cain Sr. Sep 1943 Nov 1945 - Nov 1947 Dec 1952 - Jun 1955	Ian MacFarlan Oct 1945 - Nov 1945	Tom Hollway Nov 1947 - Jun 1950 Oct 1952	John McDonald Jun 1950 - Oct 1952 Oct 1952 - Dec 1952
Sir Henry Bolte Jun 1955 - Aug 1972	Jeff Kennett Oct 1992 - Oct 1999	Steve Bracks Oct 1999 - Jul 2007	John Brumby Jul 2007 - Present

v • d • e

Current Premiers and Chief Ministers of the States and internal territories of Australia

ACT	NSW	NT	QLD	SA	TAS	VIC	WA

Jon Stanhope	Nathan Rees	Paul Henderson	Anna Bligh	Mike Rann	David Bartlett	John Brumby	Colin Barnett

v • d • e Premiers of the Australian states

New South Wales · Queensland · South Australia · Tasmania · Victoria · Western Australia

v • d • e Government of Victoria

Executive	Monarchy • Governor • Premier • Police

Legislative	Parliament • Legislative Assembly • Legislative Council • Electoral districts • Speaker of Legislative Assembly • President of Legislative Council • MLAs • MLCs

Legislative Elections	1988 • 1992 • 1996 • 1999 • 2002 • 2006

Judicial	High Court • Supreme Court • County Court • Magistrates' Court • VCAT • Other courts and tribunals