Colonial Secretary Guide - Flipbook - Page 13
- 12 -
"9. His Excellency will receive the Civil and Military Officers of Government on Business
each Day in the Week (Sunday excepted) between the hours of Ten and Twelve in the
forenoon; and no Letters of Business are to be sent to His Excellency on Sundays, nor out
of the hours he has assigned to Public Duties on the other Days of the Week; nor are any
Letters of Business to be sent to His Excellency's Secretary but during his Office hours,
and on Week Days. Letters, sent either to His Excellency or his Secretary contrary to
these orders (unless on occasion of real necessity and pressing Emergency), will be
returned unanswered to the Persons who wrote them. His Excellency's Hours for the
Despatch of Public Business are from Ten in the forenoon to Three in the Afternoon; and
his Secretary's hours are the same". (12)
Generally, a new order and regularity was established in the performance of the public business during
the twelve years of Macquarie's administration. He was succeeded by Sir Thomas Brisbane on
1 December 1821.
Frederick Goulburn succeeded Campbell, taking office as Secretary and Registrar of the Records on
1 IZaiTa41821. Hewas the first such officer officially called Colonial Secretary and was appointed by a
June 1820. (13) He also held the position of Private Secretary to the Governor.
Commission dated
Although this represented a change in the method of appointment and title of the office his commission
did not detail his duties, which in fact were the same as those of his predecessor. For a while the
relationship between Governor Brisbane and Goulburn was extremely cordial but quarrels developed
over the extent of the latter's duties. Brisbane accused Goulburn of acting contrary to his express
instructions, withholding correspondence and information from him and exceeding his authority. (14) In
May 1824 Major Ovens was officially appointed Brisbane's Private Secretary although he had in fact been
acting in this capacity since the middle of 1823. Thus the two offices were separated. (15) Many of the
records prior to the establishment of the separate office were retained by the Colonial Secretary and hence
appear here. Others were transferred at the end of 1825. (16)
Prior to 1823 all inwards correspondence for the Governor was addressed to the Governor, although filed
in the office of the Secretary to the Governor and, after 1821, that of the Colonial Secretary. In 1823 a
notice appeared in the Sydney Gazette directing that letters and memorials intended for the Governor
were to be addressed to the Colonial Secretary. (17) Although Brisbane had intended this order to refer
only to applications for land grants, he did not wish, at that time, to risk alienating his most essential
administrative official by repealing the notice. (18) The following year Goulburn maintained that he was
the only channel through which the Governor could give directions to the various members of the civil
establishment, documents not passing through his Office being "informal". (19) This claim led to the final
breach between the two men. (20) Brisbane was recalled and left the colony late in November 1825.
Goulburn was relieved of the position of Colonial Secretary but continued to serve in that capacity until
7 January 1826.
The basis of the dispute between the Governor and the Colonial Secretary had been the lack of an
authoritative statement as to their relative positions. This was largely remedied in 1825 when Darling
was given additional instructions on this matter:
"... in addition to those functions which under your general Instructions are specially
committed to the Colonial Secretary, he is to conduct, under your direction, all Official
Correspondence in the Colony, and is to act on all occasions as the general medium of
Communication, through which your orders are to be signified either to the community
at large, or to private persons." (21)
The duties of the various Government offices were revised by Governor Darling and notified in a
Government and General Order dated 5 January 1826. This also ordered that
"12th. The Public Correspondence in the Colony is to be carried on generally through the
medium of the Colonial Secretary. The Heads of Departments and Commandants of
Stations (except when the subject relates to the Military Branch of the Service) will
address their Applications and Reports to that Officer for the information or decision of
the Governor".(22)