Sir Gerald Strickland KCMG

1909 – 1913

Sir Gerald Strickland and Lady Edeline Strickland arrived in Western Australia with their family in May 1909.

Strickland’s lineage was unusual for a British Imperial Governor; the eldest son of a Royal Navy captain and a Maltese heiress, he was born in Valletta, Malta in 1861 and succeeded to the countship of Catena in 1875, becoming the sixth count.

He received an English education, and from an early age took an active role in Maltese politics, serving as chief secretary of the Mediterranean British colony between 1889 and 1902.

Strickland’s career as a colonial administrator included a term as Governor of the Leeward Islands before his promotion to Tasmania in 1904, where he was viceroy until his transfer to Western Australia where he was appointed Governor on 31 May 1909.

His term of office ended on 3 March 1913. He was then appointed Governor of New South Wales on 14 March 1913. He died in Malta on 22 August 1940.