Secretary for Public Works (New South Wales)

The Secretary for Public Works, later the Minister for Public Works was a long standing ministry in the administration of New South Wales created in 1859 and abolished in 2003.^[1]

Secretary for Public Works of New South Wales
Long serving minister Joseph Cahill
Appointer	Governor of New South Wales
Precursor	Secretary for Lands and Works
Formation	1 October 1859
First holder	Edward Flood
Final holder	Morris Iemma
Abolished	2 April 2003

Role and responsibilities

The Secretary for Lands and Works was one of the first ministries in the colonial administration of New South Wales and the land issue dominated the politics of the late 1850s. In October 1859, towards the end of the second Cowper ministry, the ministry was split into two ministries, the Secretary for Lands and the Secretary for Public Works, which enabled John Robertson to concentrate on what became known as the Robertson Land Acts,^[2][3] William Forster put forward and alternate explanation, that Cowper had created the position and appointed Flood in an unsuccessful attempt to strengthen his parliamentary position.^[4] The department had two main functions:

1. The administration of the construction and maintenance of public works, including water supply, sewerage, electricity supply, railways, tramways, roads and electric telegraph; harbours and river navigation, the Civil Engineer (Dry Docks, Cockatoo Island), defence works and the Colonial Architect and
2. A Board which oversaw how tenders for public works were administered.^[5][6]

In 1906 the Secretary assumed responsibility for local government.

List of secretaries and ministers

Title	Minister[1]	Party		Ministry	Term start	Term end	Time in office	Notes
Secretary for Public Works	Edward Flood		No party	Forster	1 October 1859	26 October 1859	25 days
	Geoffrey Eagar				27 October 1859	8 March 1860	133 days
	William Arnold			Robertson (1) Cowper (3)	9 March 1860	15 October 1863	3 years, 220 days
	Arthur Holroyd			Martin (1)	16 October 1863	2 February 1865	1 year, 109 days
	William Arnold			Cowper (4)	3 February 1865	19 October 1865	258 days
	Thomas Smart				20 October 1865	21 January 1866	93 days
	James Byrnes			Martin (2)	22 January 1866	26 October 1868	2 years, 278 days
	John Sutherland			Robertson (2) Cowper (5)	27 October 1868	15 December 1870	2 years, 49 days
	James Byrnes			Martin (3)	16 December 1870	13 May 1872	1 year, 149 days
	John Sutherland			Parkes (1)	14 May 1872	8 February 1875	2 years, 270 days
	John Lackey			Robertson (3)	9 February 1875	21 March 1877	2 years, 40 days
	James Hoskins			Parkes (2)	22 March 1877	16 August 1877	147 days
	Edward Combes			Robertson (4)	17 August 1877	17 December 1877	122 days
	John Sutherland			Farnell	18 December 1877	20 December 1878	1 year, 2 days
	John Lackey			Parkes (3)	21 December 1878	4 January 1883	4 years, 14 days
	Henry Copeland			Stuart	5 January 1883	28 March 1883	82 days
	Francis Wright				28 May 1883	6 October 1885	2 years, 131 days
	Henry Badgery			Dibbs (1)	7 October 1885	31 October 1885	24 days
	William Lyne				2 November 1885	21 December 1885	49 days
	Jacob Garrard			Robertson (5)	22 December 1885	25 February 1886	65 days
	William Lyne			Jennings	26 February 1886	19 January 1887	327 days
	John Sutherland		Free Trade	Parkes (4)	20 January 1887	16 January 1889	1 year, 362 days
	James Fletcher		Protectionist	Dibbs (2)	17 January 1889	7 March 1889	49 days
	Bruce Smith		Free Trade	Parkes (5)	8 March 1889	13 August 1891	2 years, 158 days
	James Young				14 August 1891	22 October 1891	69 days
	William Lyne		Protectionist	Dibbs (3)	23 October 1891	2 August 1894	2 years, 283 days
	James Young		Free Trade	Reid	3 August 1894	3 July 1899	4 years, 334 days
	Charles Lee				3 July 1899	13 September 1899	72 days
	Edward O'Sullivan		Protectionist	Lyne	14 September 1899	27 March 1901	1 year, 194 days
			Progressive	See	28 March 1901	14 June 1904	3 years, 78 days
	Walter Bennett			Waddell	15 June 1904	29 August 1904	75 days
	Charles Lee		Liberal Reform	Carruthers Wade	29 August 1904	20 October 1910	6 years, 52 days
Minister for Public Works	Arthur Griffith		Labor	McGowen Holman (1)	21 October 1910	15 March 1915	4 years, 145 days
	John Cann			Holman (1)	15 March 1915	15 November 1916	1 year, 245 days
Secretary for Public Works	Richard Ball		Nationalist	Holman (2)	15 November 1916	12 April 1920	3 years, 149 days
	John Estell		Labor	Storey Dooley (1)	12 April 1920	20 December 1921	1 year, 252 days
	Sir Thomas Henley		Nationalist	Fuller (1)	20 December 1921	20 December 1921	7 hours
	John Estell		Labor	Dooley (2)	20 December 1921	13 April 1922	114 days
	Sir Thomas Henley		Nationalist	Fuller (2)	13 April 1922	19 June 1922	67 days
	Richard Ball				28 June 1922	17 June 1925	2 years, 354 days
	Martin Flannery		Labor	Lang (1)	17 June 1925	26 May 1927	1 year, 343 days
	Bill Ratcliffe			Lang (2)	27 May 1927	18 October 1927	144 days
	Ernest Buttenshaw		Country	Bavin	18 October 1927	3 November 1930	3 years, 16 days
	Mat Davidson		Labor	Lang (3)	4 November 1930	15 October 1931	345 days
			Labor (NSW)		15 October 1931	13 May 1932	211 days
	Reginald Weaver		United Australia	Stevens (1)	16 May 1932	10 February 1935	2 years, 270 days
	Bertram Stevens			Stevens (2)	10 February 1935	21 August 1935	192 days
	Eric Spooner			Stevens (2) (3)	22 August 1935	21 July 1939	3 years, 333 days
	Bertram Stevens			Mair	21 July 1939	5 August 1939	15 days
	Alexander Mair				5 August 1939	16 August 1939	11 days
	Lewis Martin				16 August 1939	16 May 1941	1 year, 273 days
	Joseph Cahill		Labor	McKell (1) (2) McGirr (1) (2) (3)	16 May 1941	2 April 1952	10 years, 322 days
	Jack Renshaw			Cahill (1) (2)	3 April 1952	15 March 1956	3 years, 347 days
	John McGrath			Cahill (3)	15 March 1956	1 April 1959	3 years, 17 days
Minister for Public Works	Norm Ryan			Cahill (4) Heffron (1) (2) Renshaw	1 April 1959	13 May 1965	6 years, 42 days
	Davis Hughes		Country	Askin (1) (2) (3) (4)	13 May 1965	17 January 1973	7 years, 249 days
	Leon Punch			Askin (5) (6) Lewis (1) (2)	17 January 1973	14 May 1976	3 years, 118 days
	Jack Ferguson		Labor	Wran (1) (2) (3) (4)	14 May 1976	10 February 1984	7 years, 272 days
	Laurie Brereton			Wran (5) (6) (7)	10 February 1984	6 February 1986	1 year, 361 days
Minister for Public Works and Ports				Wran (8) Unsworth	6 February 1986	26 November 1987	1 year, 293 days
Minister for Public Works	Peter Cox			Unsworth	26 November 1987	21 March 1988	116 days
	Wal Murray		National	Greiner (1) (2) Fahey (1) (2)	21 March 1988	26 May 1993	5 years, 66 days
	Ian Armstrong			Fahey (3)	26 May 1993	4 April 1995	1 year, 313 days
Minister for Public Works and Services	Michael Knight		Labor	Carr (1)	4 April 1995	15 December 1995	255 days
	Carl Scully				15 December 1995	1 December 1997	1 year, 351 days
	Ron Dyer			Carr (2)	1 December 1997	8 April 1999	1 year, 128 days
	Morris Iemma			Carr (3)	8 April 1999	2 April 2003	3 years, 359 days