Sir William Cleaver Francis Robinson GCMG

1875 – 1877; 1880 – 1883 & 1890 – 1895

Sir William Robinson served as Governor of Western Australia three times between 1875 and 1895.

Before his first appointment as Governor on 11 January 1875, he had been Governor of the Falklands Islands and King Edward Island (part of the Dominion of Canada).

On 6 September 1877, he relinquished the position of Governor of Western Australia to follow former Governor Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld, and take on the appointment of Governor of the Straits Settlement. In the same year he was knighted.

On 10 April 1880, he again assumed the office of Governor of Western Australia. During his second term he vastly improved the colony’s financial position from debt to surplus.

On 13 February 1883, he left to assume the office of Governor of South Australia. He left South Australia in 1889 to act as Governor of Victoria.

Sir William was again appointed Governor of Western Australia in 1890 for a third term, leaving office on 17 March 1895.

Sir William married Olivia Edith Deane in April 1862 and they had three sons and two daughters. He died in South Kensington on 2 May 1897. He had a passion for music and it is thought that the Bechstein Boudoir grand piano (c1876), currently situated in the Music Room at Government House, was installed during Robinson’s first term of office.