The Secretary for Mines was a ministry first established in 1874 in the first ministry of

Henry Parkes Sir Henry Parkes, (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was a colonial Australian politician and the longest-serving non-consecutive Premier of New South Wales, premier of the Colony of New South Wales, the present-day state of New South Wales in ...

. It went through various title changes, becoming the Minister for Mines in 1959 then variations on Minister for Mineral Resources.

Role and responsibilities

In 1872-3 there was a rush of application for mineral leases covering , which were required to be dealt with by the Secretary for Lands. The ministry was created from the responsibilities of the Secretary for Lands and the first minister,

James Farnell James Squire Farnell (25 June 1825 – 21 August 1888) was an Australian politician and Premier of New South Wales. Farnell was a hard-working legislator who gave much study to the land question and also tried hard for some years to pass a bill ...

, was also the Secretary for Lands. The initial tasks for the minister were establishing the Board of Mines, a school of mines and mineralogical museum. The minister was responsible for the department of mines, which included mining wardens, registrars, bailiffs and surveyors. The department also included agricultural regulation, including sheep and cattle inspectors and the registration of brands. The agricultural responsibilities were recognised from 1890 when the title was changed to Secretary for Mines and Agriculture, until 1907 when a separate

Minister for Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

was created. In 1959 the ministry was renamed Minister for Mines. The resources portfolio was occasionally combined with the energy portfolio between 1984 and 2017.

List of ministers

References

{{Government of New South Wales

Mines Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun Mi ...

Mining ministers