William Cox

Categories: Governors of Tasmania

For other uses, see William Cox (disambiguation).

His Excellency the Honourable William (Bill) John Ellis Cox, AC, RFD, ED ( born April 1, 1936 in Hobart, Tasmania) has been Governor of Tasmania since 15 December 2004, prior to which he was the state's Chief Justice.

He was educated at Xavier College in Melbourne and the University of Tasmania.

He was admitted to the bar in 1960, appointed a magistrate in 1976, and became a Queen's Counsel in 1978.

He was appointed to the Supreme Court of Tasmania in 1982, and was the state's Chief Justice from 1995 until 2004. In 1999, Justice Cox was made Companion of the Order of Australia.

Up until his appointment as Governor of Tasmania, Cox was serving as Lieutenant-Governor and Chief Justice of Tasmania. In August 2004, he became acting Governor upon the resignation of Richard Butler, and in November the premier, Paul Lennon, announced that he had advised the Queen to appoint Cox Tasmania's Governor.

William Cox is married to Jocelyn with three children.

Cox is only the second Tasmanian-born Governor in the state's history. The other was Sir Guy Green.