The Secretary for Mines was a ministry first established in 1874 in the first ministry of Henry Parkes. It went through various title changes, becoming the Minister for Mines in 1959 then variations on Minister for Mineral Resources.[1]

Secretary for Mines of New South Wales
AppointerGovernor of New South Wales
Formation9 May 1874
First holderJames Farnell
Final holderDon Harwin
Abolished2 April 2019
SuccessionMinister for Energy and Environment

Role and responsibilities

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In 1872-3 there was a rush of application for mineral leases covering 750,000 acres (300,000 ha), which were required to be dealt with by the Secretary for Lands.[2] The ministry was created from the responsibilities of the Secretary for Lands and the first minister, James Farnell, was also the Secretary for Lands. The initial tasks for the minister were establishing the Board of Mines, a school of mines and mineralogical museum. The minister was responsible for the department of mines, which included mining wardens, registrars, bailiffs and surveyors. The department also included agricultural regulation, including sheep and cattle inspectors and the registration of brands.[3]

The agricultural responsibilities were recognised from 1890 when the title was changed to Secretary for Mines and Agriculture,[4] until 1907 when a separate Minister for Agriculture was created. In 1959 the ministry was renamed Minister for Mines.[5]

The resources portfolio was occasionally combined with the energy portfolio between 1984 and 2017.

List of ministers

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Title Minister [1] Party Term start Term end Time in office Notes
Secretary for Lands and Secretary for Mines James Farnell No party 9 May 1874 26 July 1874 78 days
Secretary for Mines Robert Abbott 27 July 1874 8 February 1875 196 days
John Lucas 9 February 1875 5 February 1877 1 year, 362 days
George Lloyd 6 February 1877 16 August 1877 191 days
Ezekiel Baker 17 August 1877 19 November 1877 94 days
Archibald Jacob 20 November 1877 17 December 1877 27 days
William Suttor Jr. 18 December 1877 20 December 1878 1 year, 2 days
Ezekiel Baker 21 December 1878 11 October 1881 2 years, 294 days
Arthur Renwick 12 October 1881 4 January 1883 1 year, 84 days
Joseph Abbott 5 January 1883 6 October 1885 2 years, 274 days
Francis Wright 7 October 1885 17 October 1885 10 days
George Thornton 13 November 1885 21 December 1885 38 days
Robert Vaughn 22 December 1885 25 February 1886 65 days
James Fletcher 26 February 1886 23 December 1886 300 days
Charles Mackellar 24 December 1886 19 January 1887 26 days
Francis Abigail   Free Trade 20 January 1887 16 January 1889 1 year, 362 days
John Chanter   Protectionist 17 January 1889 7 March 1889 49 days
Sydney Smith   Free Trade 8 March 1889 27 February 1890 2 years, 228 days
Secretary for Mines and Agriculture 28 February 1890 22 October 1891 [4]
Thomas Slattery   Protectionist 23 October 1891 2 August 1894 2 years, 283 days
Sydney Smith   Free Trade 3 August 1894 15 August 1898 4 years, 12 days
Joseph Cook 27 August 1898 13 September 1899 1 year, 17 days
John Fegan   Protectionist 15 September 1899 8 April 1901 1 year, 205 days
John Kidd   Progressive 10 April 1901 29 August 1904 3 years, 141 days
Samuel Moore   Liberal Reform 29 August 1904 1 October 1907 3 years, 33 days
John Perry 2 October 1907 21 January 1908 111 days
Secretary for Mines William Wood 22 January 1908 20 October 1910 2 years, 271 days
Alfred Edden   Labor 21 October 1910 29 January 1914 3 years, 100 days
John Cann 29 January 1914 15 March 1915 1 year, 45 days
John Estell 15 March 1915 31 October 1916 1 year, 230 days
Henry Hoyle 31 October 1916 15 November 1916 15 days
John Fitzpatrick   Nationalist 15 November 1916 12 April 1920 3 years, 149 days
George Cann   Labor 12 April 1920 20 December 1921 1 year, 252 days
John Fitzpatrick   Nationalist 20 December 1921 20 December 1921 7 hours
George Cann   Labor 20 December 1921 13 April 1922 113 days
John Fitzpatrick   Nationalist 13 April 1922 17 June 1925 3 years, 65 days
Jack Baddeley   Labor 17 June 1925 18 October 1927 2 years, 123 days
Frank Chaffey   Nationalist 18 October 1927 15 April 1929 1 year, 179 days
Reginald Weaver 16 April 1929 3 November 1930 1 year, 202 days
Jack Baddeley   Labor 4 November 1930 15 October 1931 1 year, 191 days
  Labor (NSW) 15 October 1931 13 May 1932
Frank Chaffey   United Australia 16 May 1932 17 June 1932 32 days
Roy Vincent   Country 18 June 1932 16 May 1941 8 years, 332 days
Jack Baddeley   Labor 16 May 1941 8 September 1949 8 years, 115 days
James McGirr 8 September 1949 21 September 1949 13 days
William Dickson 21 September 1949 30 June 1950 282 days
Joshua Arthur 30 June 1950 23 February 1953 2 years, 238 days
Bob Heffron 23 February 1953 16 September 1953 205 days
Francis Buckley 16 September 1953 30 June 1954 2 years, 88 days
William Gollan 1 July 1954 15 March 1956 1 year, 259 days
Roger Nott 15 March 1956 14 November 1957 1 year, 244 days
Jim Simpson 14 November 1957 1 April 1959 7 years, 180 days
Minister for Mines 1 April 1959 13 May 1965
Tom Lewis   Liberal 13 May 1965 27 June 1967 2 years, 45 days
Wal Fife 27 June 1967 3 January 1975 7 years, 190 days
George Freudenstein   Country 3 January 1975 14 May 1976 1 year, 131 days
Pat Hills   Labor 14 May 1976 19 October 1978 2 years, 158 days
Minister for Mineral Resources and Development Ron Mulock 19 October 1978 29 February 1980 2 years, 348 days
Minister for Mineral Resources 29 February 1980 2 October 1981
Neville Wran 2 October 1981 1 February 1983 1 year, 122 days
Kevin Stewart 1 February 1983 10 February 1984 1 year, 9 days
Don Day 10 February 1984 5 April 1984 55 days
Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy Peter Cox 5 April 1984 6 February 1986 1 year, 307 days
Minister for Mineral Resources Ken Gabb 4 July 1986 26 November 1987 2 years, 44 days
Minister for Minerals and Energy 26 November 1987 21 March 1988
Minister for Mineral Resources Neil Pickard   Liberal 21 March 1988 19 October 1988 3 years, 73 days
Minister for Minerals and Energy 19 October 1988 6 June 1991
Minister of Natural Resources Ian Causley   National 6 June 1991 26 May 1993 3 years, 306 days
Minister for Mines 26 May 1993 4 April 1995
Minister for Mineral Resources Bob Martin   Labor 4 April 1995 8 April 1999 4 years, 4 days
Eddie Obeid 8 April 1999 2 April 2003 3 years, 359 days
Kerry Hickey 2 April 2003 3 August 2005 2 years, 123 days
Ian Macdonald 3 August 2005 4 December 2009 4 years, 305 days
Minister for Mineral and Forest Resources 4 December 2009 4 June 2010
Paul McLeay 4 June 2010 1 September 2010 89 days
Steve Whan 6 September 2010 28 March 2011 209 days
Minister for Resources and Energy Chris Hartcher   Liberal 3 April 2011 4 December 2013 2 years, 245 days
Anthony Roberts 4 December 2013 2 April 2015 3 years, 57 days
Minister for Industry, Resources and Energy 2 April 2015 30 January 2017
Minister for Resources Don Harwin 30 January 2017 2 April 2019 (2019-04-02) 2 years, 62 days

References

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  1. ^ a b "Part 6 Ministries since 1856" (PDF). NSW Parliamentary Record. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  2. ^ Goodin, V W E. "Farnell, James Squire (1825–1888)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  3. ^ "AGY-76 Department of Mines". NSW State Records & Archives. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Designation of Secretary for Mines". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 116. 28 February 1890. p. 1783. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via Trove.
  5. ^ "PFO-54 Mines [II]". NSW State Records & Archives. Retrieved 2 January 2021.