Kenneth Comninos Michael, (born 12 April 1938) is an Australian

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

, academic and former public servant who was the 30th Governor of Western Australia, serving from 2006 to 2011.

Early life and career

Michael was born in

Perth, Western Australia Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, the son of immigrants from the island of Kastellorizo in Greece. Michael studied at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

and was a former Commissioner of Main Roads WA, a chairman of the East Perth Redevelopment Authority, a member of the Economic Regulation Authority, and was the

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

of the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

. Michael was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

in 1996, and elevated as a

Companion of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

in 2006. He was named Western Australian Citizen of the Year in 2001 and received the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

in 2003 for "service to the public, engineering and the Greek Community".

Governor of Western Australia

Michael's vice-regal appointment was announced on 6 June 2005 by the then

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Geoff Gallop, and he was sworn in at Government House, Perth on 18 January 2006 by the Premier Alan Carpenter and also witnessed by Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia and Lieutenant-Governor, David Malcolm. In 2006 Michael was named the patron of the

Fremantle Football Club The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers or colloquially Freo, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represen ...

, following in the footsteps of Lieutenant-General Sanderson who was also patron at Fremantle. He has been a member of the club since 1994 as an inaugural Quay Club member. Michael is also the state patron of The Boys' Brigade. Michael resigned as governor on 2 May 2011. Lieutenant-Governor Wayne Martin became Administrator of Western Australia until

Malcolm McCusker Malcolm James McCusker (born 6 August 1938) is an Australian barrister and philanthropist who was the 31st Governor of Western Australia, serving from July 2011 to June 2014. Born in Perth, McCusker was educated at Hobart High School (in Hob ...

was sworn in as governor on 1 July 2011. Michael was appointed Chairman of the Western Australian Cricket Association in December 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Michael, Ken 1938 births Alumni of Imperial College London Australian people of Greek descent Australian public servants Companions of the Order of Australia Governors of Western Australia Living people People educated at Perth Modern School People from Perth, Western Australia University of Western Australia alumni Chancellors of the University of Western Australia Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering