Sir John Kerr
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The Right Honourable Sir John Kerr AK, GCMG, GCVO, QC |
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|---|---|
Kerr, photographed in 1974
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| 18th Governor-General of Australia | |
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In office 11 July 1974 – 8 December 1977 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister |
Gough Whitlam Malcolm Fraser |
| Preceded by | Sir Paul Hasluck |
| Succeeded by | Sir Zelman Cowen |
| Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales | |
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In office 16 May 1973 – 27 May 1974 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Governor | Sir Roden Cutler |
| Premier | Sir Robert Askin |
| Preceded by | Sir Leslie Herron |
| Succeeded by | Sir Laurence Street |
| 13th Chief Justice of New South Wales | |
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In office 23 May 1972 – 27 June 1974 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Governor | Sir Roden Cutler |
| Preceded by | Sir Leslie Herron |
| Succeeded by | Sir Laurence Street |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
24 September 1914 Sydney, New South Wales |
| Died | 24 March 1991 (aged 76) Sydney, New South Wales |
| Resting place | Macquarie Park Cemetery and Crematorium |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Political party |
Australian Labor Party (1948–1955) |
| Spouse(s) |
Alison 'Peggy' Worstead (m. 1938; d. 1974) Anne 'Nancy' Robson, née Taggart (m. 1975) |
| Children | Gabrielle Kristin Philip and 2 stepchildren from his second wife's first marriage |
| Education | Fort Street High School |
| Alma mater | University of Sydney |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Sir John Robert Kerr, AK, GCMG, GCVO, QC (24 September 1914 – 24 March 1991) was the 18th Governor-General of Australia. He dismissed the Labor government of Gough Whitlam on 11 November 1975, marking the climax of the most significant constitutional crisis in Australian history. He had previously been the 13th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
Kerr was born in Balmain, a working-class suburb of Sydney, where his father was a boilermaker. He entered the Fort Street Boys' High School, and later won scholarships to the University of Sydney, where he graduated in law with first class honours and the University Medal, before being called to the New South Wales bar in 1938. At Fort Street he met H. V. Evatt, who later became Leader of the Australian Labor Party and then a judge of the High Court of Australia, and became a protege of Evatt for many years. In 1938 Kerr married Alison "Peggy" Worstead, with whom he had three children. He spent World War II working for an Australian intelligence organisation, the Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs, a fact that later gave rise to speculation about an intelligence role in the dismissal of the Whitlam Government. In 1946 he became principal of the Australian School of Pacific Administration and the first Secretary-General of the South Pacific Commission.
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