Appointing the First Australian-Born Governor-General: Legal and Vice-Regal Opposition

Abstract:     
Archival sources that have become available in recent years deepen our understanding of the controversy that surrounded the nomination in 1930 of Sir Isaac Isaacs as the first Australian-born Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia. A chorus of elite Australian lawyers told King George V and the public that the appointment of Isaacs on the advice of the Australian Prime Minister would be invalid under the Australian Constitution. Their views, and those of other critics, were relayed by State Governors and the outgoing Governor-General, who added comments revealing their anti-Semitic hostility to Isaacs and their determination to oppose the appointment regardless of the views of the governments that advised them. For these lawyers, the imperial connection pervaded the Constitution, and only constitutional amendment could enable Australian ministers to become advisers of the King.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 16

Keywords: Sir Isaac Isaacs, Governor-General, Australia, John Baird, Lord Stonehaven, James Scullin, Alexander Hore-Ruthven, Lord Gowrie

Accepted Paper Series