Stanley Burbury

Burbury and Sir William Crowther at the opening of the Narryna Folk Museum, 1957 (W.L. Crowther Library, SLT)

Stanley Charles Burbury (1909–95), governor. The first Tasmanian governor of Australian birth, Burbury was born in Perth, Western Australia. Conquering early childhood adversity, he was academically successful at the Hutchins School and in legal studies at the University of Tasmania. Burbury practised at the Tasmanian bar and was appointed Solicitor-General in 1952. From 1956 Burbury served for seventeen years as Chief Justice, during which he heard the politically sensitive Hursey case and chaired the Commonwealth's second Voyager Royal Commission.

Having acted as Administrator of the state on three occasions, Burbury was recommended for the governorship by Premier Reece in 1973. Extended to 1982, his tenure was dignified and devoid of controversy, remembered by many for enthusiastic vice-regal patronage of music and theatre. Burbury received several imperial honours, including KCMG, KCVO and KBE. (See also Thomas Burbury.)