Governor Richard MacDonnell

6th Governor of South Australia

Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell was Governor of South Australia from June 1855 to March 1862. Governor MacDonnell wrote in 1855 of his fear that too democratic a spirit was being fostered in the colony. He argued that South Australia was not yet ready to see the governor ‘suddenly stripped of all influence and power’. During the final debates on South Australia’s Constitution, MacDonnell’s proposal of a qualified form of responsible government without universal manhood suffrage or the secret ballot was rejected by the Legislative Council. The will of the people was stronger than that of the governor.