The Treasury Department was established on 15 December 1859 following separation of Queensland from New South Wales and the proclamation and publication on 10 December 1859 of the Letters Patent creating the colony. Governor Bowen appointed Robert Ramsay Mackenzie to be Colonial Treasurer and Collector of Internal Revenue; the Colonial Secretary, Attorney General and Colonial Treasurer were the only ministers and members of the Executive Council appointed at that time. On 22 March 1860 the Colonial Treasurer was also appointed Postmaster General.

Functions:

In 1862, the Treasurer's responsibilities were gazetted as: Finance generally; custody, collection, and disbursement of all revenues; trade and commerce; taxation; issue and sale of debentures; postal arrangements and contracts; customs; distillation; issue of stamps; port and harbor regulations; navigation, including pilots; lighthouses; and lightships.

It was not until 1963 and subsequently 1968 that the Treasury Department lost those functions which were less specifically related to matters of the Government coffers. In 1963 the Queensland Housing Commission and the Government Printing Office were amalgamated with other departments as were the Harbours and Marines Department and the Marine Board in 1968.

Other agencies controlled by the Department over a long period included the Government Savings Bank, created in 1867 and taken over by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia on 30 September 1920, and the State Government Insurance Office, created in 1924 and in existence until 1986 when it became Suncorp.

Other functions carried out at various times by the Department included: Racing and Betting; Probate duty, Succession duty; Workers Compensation; Explosives; Law, liquor; Sugar mills; Pensions, imperial; Firms, registration of; Weights and Measures; Licenses, auctioneers.

The Treasurer's responsibilities listed in the 1999 Government Directory included: art unions; casinos; economic performance and analysis; Golden Casket; government owned enterprises; government statistics; government superannuation; insurance; machine gaming; nominal defendant; public sector financial policy; Queensland Investment Corporation; Queensland Rural Adjustment Authority; Queensland Treasury Corporation; state actuary; state budget; state taxation.

© copyright 1997 on

No part of this page may be copied used, saved in electronic form or hard printed.