A landscape of compliance, conflict and invention - an administrative history of the New South Wales Treasury, 1824–1976

Abstract

Ministerial responsibility is a corollary of the democratic process. An administrative component of that democratic expression is the Treasury. Federal, state or national treasuries have always played pivotal roles in the political, economic, social, technical and cultural evolution of the political arenas within which they function. This thesis presents, for the first time, an institutional history of the New South Wales Treasury. It includes an analysis of its British antecedents, its establishment in the penal colony of New South Wales, by way of the Commissariat and Colonial Funds, and its subsequent development into one of the most influential State government departments. What is fundamental to the successful and efficient administration of a Treasury in the twenty-first century was also true five thousand years ago. There is a universality of constant principles applying to the administration of the public purse and those principles have not altered over the millennia: security, accountability, transparency, efficiency and control. A component of a modern Treasury is its advisory capacity in financial matters. This thesis, therefore, examines the application of those constants in the context of New South Wales over the previous one hundred and fifty years, 1824 to 1976. The New South Wales Treasury is examined specifically, as the vehicle for the adaptation and application of those constant principles attaching to the financial administration of the public purse. An examination is also made of the growth of Treasury's internal structure, leadership, modus operandi, its response to administrative reform and its role in the public service. The inter-play between Treasury, Governors, Colonial Treasurers, and the public service are all vial elements in this exposition of Treasury. This history, therefore, analyses and dissects the influences that provided the impetus for a government agency to develop successfully, from a modest office of three in 1824, into the present day department of state.