Rear AdmiralPeter Ross Sinclair,AC (born 16 November 1934) is a retired senior officer of theRoyal Australian Navy who served as the 35thGovernor of New South Wales from 8 August 1990 to 1 March 1996. Born inManly, New South Wales, he was educated atNorth Sydney Boys High School before joining the Navy through theRoyal Australian Naval College.

Over a 41-year career, Sinclair saw active service inKorea,Malaysia,Vietnam, and in relief operations followingCyclone Tracy, and commanded the naval baseHMAS Penguin. He later rose to high command, serving as Director of Naval Plans and as chief project officer during the establishment of the tri-serviceAustralian Defence Force Academy, and then serving as its first commandant. In 1987, he was appointed Flag Officer Commanding HM Australian Fleet, which was redesignated asMaritime Commander Australia the following year. In 1989, he was appointed asDeputy Chief of the Naval Staff but served only briefly until his retirement later that year.

When his friend and navy colleague,Sir David Martin, resigned his commission asGovernor of New South Wales in August 1990 due to an advancing medical condition, Sinclair was appointed to succeed him. He retired in 1996, and controversy over Carr's proposed changes to the Governor's role emerged in regard to his successor.

Peter Sinclair was born inManly, New South Wales, on 16 November 1934 to Gordon and Dorothy Sinclair. After being educated atNorth Sydney Boys High School, Sinclair joined theRoyal Australian Navy and entered theRoyal Australian Naval College as a Cadet in January 1948. After several years, he was sent for further studies at theRoyal College of Defence Studies inLondon. Sinclair served on various ships, includingHMS Vengeance,HMAS Australia,HMAS Arunta,HMAS Tobruk,HMAS Swan,HMAS Sydney,HMAS Vendetta, andHMAS Vampire, and saw service in theKorean War and theVietnam War.^[1]

On 9 May 1957, he married Shirley McLellan.^[2] Together they had two daughters, Jann a teacher on the North Shore of Sydney, Kay CEO of a recruitment company and a son, Commodore Peter John Sinclair, who joined the navy and was the commander in charge of the commissioning of theCollins class submarines.^[3]

Sinclair's first command was ofHMAS Duchess from 1970 to 1972, and then of the Guided Missile Destroyer,HMAS Hobart.^[2] As commander in 1974, his ship was called upon to take part in the relief operations inDarwin, Northern Territory, followingCyclone Tracy.^[4]

Commanding until 1977, Sinclair soon rose to higher administrative and directive roles in the navy, serving as commander ofHMAS Penguin in 1978, Director of Naval Plans from 1979 to 1980, Director-General of the Military Staff Branch Strategic and International Policy Division Department of Defence from 1980 to 1982 and Chief of Staff and Deputy to the Naval Support Commander from 1983 to 1984. Sinclair was Chief Project officer during the establishment of the tri-serviceAustralian Defence Force Academy, serving as its first commandant from 1984 to 1986. In the 1986 New Year Honours list, Sinclair was made anOfficer of the Order of Australia (AO) for "Service to The Royal Australian Navy, particularly as the First Commandant of the Australian Defence Force Academy".^[5] In 1987 he was appointedFlag Officer Commanding HM Australian Fleet, a position which later changed to Maritime Commander, Australia.^[2]

During the1987 Fijian coups d'état, Sinclair was in charge of the evacuation of all Australian citizens fromFiji. In 1989, he was appointed as Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff. He served only briefly and in that same year he retired from the Navy to take up cattle breeding at "Kirkbreck" a property nearTea Gardens, New South Wales. In 1990, the Premier of New South Wales,Nick Greiner, asked Sinclair to coordinate the Flood Relief Operations during theNyngan andBogan Shire floods.^[6]

When his friend and navy colleague,Sir David Martin, resigned his commission asGovernor of New South Wales on 7 August 1990 due to an advancing medical condition, dying three days later on 10 August, Sinclair was the only person considered as Martin's replacement. The Premier of New South Wales,Nick Greiner, identified a military appointment as the only appropriate successor to Martin and recommended Sinclair's toBuckingham Palace. This was accepted byQueen Elizabeth II and Sinclair was sworn in on 8 August 1990. At his swearing in, Sinclair declared that he and his wife would "steer a broad course set by Sir David and Lady Martin". Sinclair later took the advice passed on to him from Martin in his notes: "The person who is Governor is not important. The office of Governor is important."^[6] During his time atGovernment House, Sydney, Sinclair increased accessibility to the public. While all previous Governors had maintained public access through Garden Parties and specific events, Sinclair was the first to start Government House open days, the first being on 24 March 1991. By the end of his term in 1996 approximately 35,000 people had visited the Vice-regal residence.^[7]

While initially uncertain of his constitutional role, particularly in regard to theExecutive Council, Sinclair decreed that all Ministers of the Crown were required to produce a certificate with any legislation requiring assent. The certificate declared that theNSW Crown Solicitor, then Hugh Roberts, had scrutinised the legislation and could therefore recommend assent without problem. While during the Greiner/Fahey Governments, Sinclair received compliance with these requests as well as regular attendance to Council meetings. However, once the Carr Labor Government took power in 1995, Labor ministers were less ready to accede to Crown scrutiny. Sinclair readily took advice from many sources including Chief JusticeMurray Gleeson, fellow state Governors and former NSW Governors,Sir Roden Cutler andSir James Rowland.^[8]

At theMay 1991 election, the Liberal/National Government of Greiner lost ten seats, reducing its majority to 3 over Labor. However, with four independents in the crossbenches, the Government needed at least one independent to ensure a workable majority in the Legislative Assembly. After several negotiations, Greiner was able to secure the independentMember for Tamworth,Tony Windsor, agreeing to provide concessions to his electorate in exchange for Windsor's support in confidence and supply motions. Sinclair then reviewed the letters of the agreement to ascertain their legality and then commissioned Greiner as Premier. Greiner then, promising parliamentary and government reforms, signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" with the other three Independents:Clover Moore (Bligh),Peter MacDonald (Manly) andJohn Hatton (South Coast), to secure their support in parliament for confidence and supply.^[9]

Despite several seat changes reducing the Government majority to 47, equal to Labor's, thereby threatening a constitutional crisis, no problems occurred until the "Metherell affair" emerged. The former Minister for Education,Terry Metherell, had resigned from the Liberal Party in October 1991, sitting as an independent. The government subsequently created a job for Metherell, a position with the Environment Protection Agency, which he accepted, effectively engineering a vacancy in a seat that the Liberal Party would recover at a by-election. At theMay 1992 by-election the seat was won by Liberal candidateAndrew Humpherson.^[10] While the Liberal Party won the by-election, there was a much higher cost. Because the Greiner government was in a minority, it could not prevent the Legislative Assembly referring the matter of Metherell's appointment to theIndependent Commission Against Corruption, which made findings of corruption.^[11] Five days after the findings, on 24 June 1992, Greiner tearfully met with Sinclair at Government House and tendered his resignation. That same day Sinclair commissionedJohn Fahey as Premier.^[12] The ICAC findings were eventually ruled by theSupreme Court of New South Wales as being outside the powers of the ICAC to make, but by then Premier Greiner had already resigned. Metherell never took up the offered job.^[11]

Another problem arose over the Governor's power to dissolve the Parliament. This emerged over the introduction of reforms to introduce a fixed four-year parliamentary term, prompted by the independent's, particularlyJohn Hatton's, desire to prevent Premiers from calling elections whenever it suited them. Fearing an upcoming undeclared 1991 election, Hatton introduced a motion in the Assembly to request the Governor to only grant an early election if the majority of MPs requested one. Soon Greiner and various Ministers objected to it as an attempt to limit the Governor's conventional constitutional powers. Sinclair disagreed with the motion and asked the Crown Solicitor to convey these concerns to the Premier.^[12] Facing increasing criticism, Hatton withdrew the motion saying that "The last thing I would want to do would be to politicise the office of the Governor."^[13] In the 1992Queen's Birthday honours list, Sinclair was invested as aCompanion of the Order of Australia (AC) for "Service to the Crown as Governor of New South Wales".^[14]

Despite speculation that Fahey would call an early election, the parliament ran its full term. At theMarch 1995 election, Fahey lost Government to the Labor Party underBob Carr. The relationship between Sinclair and the republican Carr soon degenerated. One of Carr's first moves was to declare that his cabinet would be the last to swear allegiance to the Queen, a symbolic move intended to contribute to the campaign towards the upcoming1999 Referendum.^[15] Carr generated further antagonism between him and Sinclair, as well as public controversy, over his intentions to make the Governor a part-time post that did not require a residence or independent staff. Sinclair's personality and dislike for Carr's policies were soon derided by editors inThe Sydney Morning Herald, calling him the "Chief Boy Scout", a reference to the governor's role as head of the Scouts.^[16]

Another controversy emerged from the choice of Sinclair's successor, whom he had wanted to give a more thorough handover than he had in 1990. He communicated to Carr several possible replacements, including ProfessorMarie Bashir. Carr, wanting to choose the successor himself, turned down Sinclair and chose the former Judge and Chancellor of theUniversity of New South Wales,Gordon Samuels.^[15] Carr requested Sinclair to prorogue the Parliament, partly to prevent the opposition from debating the changes to the Governor's role in the Legislative Council. Sinclair agreed to Carr's request of an Executive council meeting to deal with the matter. However, when Treasurer,Michael Egan, announced that Sinclair had already agreed to prorogue the Parliament, Sinclair was furious about the breach of protocol. Sinclair demanded a retraction and apology from Carr and Egan, which he received.^[17] Sinclair's last public appearance as Governor was at anAustralia Day event atDarling Harbour. The following day, Sinclair signed the order of prorogation. On 28 January 5000 visitors attended the final government House open day, while a larger crowd of 15,000 farewelled the Sinclairs two days later, before marching on Parliament House to protest Carr's intention to remove the Governor from Government House.^[15]

On his retirement, Sinclair returned to "Kirkbreck" but nevertheless continued in public life for theRSL with a life membership, as Chairman of the Council of theOrder of Australia from 1996 to 2001, Vice-President ofSt John Ambulance New South Wales, Deputy Chair of theNewcastle Permanent Building Society, and a Councillor of the ANZAC Health and Medical Research Foundation. In 1992 Sinclair was made an honorary Doctor ofSydney University, and an Honorary Doctor ofSouthern Cross University in 1996.^[2] In retirement, Sinclair gives regular talks on constitutional matters to various groups and he is Patron of the Hunter Medical Research Institute,Australian Surf Life Saving Foundation.,^[18]Task Force 72 and theRail Motor Society,Paterson.

On 28 November 2013 the Premier of NSW announced that the Queen had given approval for the title of "The Honourable" to be accorded to the governors and former governors of New South Wales.^[19] In June 2016, Sinclair was called as a witness before theRoyal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and gave an account of his experience as a victim of a humiliating initiation ritual when he joined the navy and had vowed to never let the practice happen on his watch, during his time as Deputy Commander atHMAS Leeuwin Naval Base.^[20]

	Companion of theOrder of Australia (AC)	General division (1992)[14]
	Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)	Military division (1986)[5]
	Knight of Justice of theVenerable Order of St John (KStJ)	1991
	Australian Active Service Medal 1945–1975
	United Nations Service Medal for Korea
	General Service Medal
	Vietnam Medal
	Australian Service Medal 1945–1975
	Centenary Medal	2001[21]
	Defence Force Service Medal with 40 years rosette
	National Medal with First clasp	1977,[22] 1978[23]
	Australian Defence Medal
	Pingat Jasa Malaysia	(Malaysia)
	Korean War Service Medal	(South Korea)

• In 1992, he was awarded aDoctor of the University (honoris causa) by theUniversity of Sydney.^[24]
• In 1996, he was awarded aDoctor of the University (honoris causa) bySouthern Cross University.^[25]

• 8 August 1990 – 1 March 1996: Honorary and RegimentalColonel in theRoyal New South Wales Regiment.
• 8 August 1990 – 1 March 1996:Honorary Air Commodore ofNo. 22 SquadronRoyal Australian Air Force.

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