Secretary for Mines (New South Wales)

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
Appointer	Governor of New South Wales
Formation	9 May 1874
First holder	James Farnell
Final holder	Don Harwin
Abolished	2 April 2019
Succession	Minister for Energy and Environment

Role and responsibilities

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

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

1. "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. "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.