As the job evolved over time, so did the type of person needed to govern successfully. Between 1840 and 1853, when governors ruled personally, they were junior navy or army officers.
New Zealand became a British colony in 1840, legitimised by the Treaty of Waitangi and Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson's declaration of 21 May declaring sovereignty over the islands.
Today there are two parts to Parliament – the House of Representatives (or the Lower House) and the Governor-General, but between 1854 and 1951 there was a third part, the Legislative Council (or the Upper House).
In the 1840s settlers were demanding a say in government. Governor Grey suspended an overly elaborate constitution in 1846, but the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 gave male voters representative government.
Sir William Jervois was governor between 1882 and 1887. He was the last of the professional governors, having governed the Straits Settlements (modern Malaysia) from 1875 to 1877 and South Australia from 1877 to 1882.
An outgoing Governor-General's 'Notes for My Successor' have had their day. New Zealand Governors-General already know the country and have no need to pack their household goods for a journey around the world.
Lord Onslow is photographed here with his pet. Settlers looked at Lord Onslow through less devoted eyes when he played politics over appointments to the Upper House.
This 1955 photograph shows the building in Parliament grounds originally built as Government House. After the Parliament House fire of 1907, this building housed Parliament, and the governor lived at Palmerston North until the new (present) Government House was ready.
Robert FitzRoy, the second Governor of New Zealand (1843-45), took his own life at his home in Surrey. Opinion on his governorship has always been divided.
After a lengthy Royal Navy career in which he saw action in the Napoleonic Wars and was twice captured by pirates in the Caribbean, William Hobson (1792-1842) became New Zealand's first Governor.
Sir George Grey was our only politician for whom the premiership was an anticlimax. He governed autocratically from 1845 to 1853 (greatly shaping our constitutional arrangements) and returned as governor in 1861.
Robert FitzRoy, who first visited New Zealand as commander of the Beagle in 1835, was Governor from 1843, succeeding the late William Hobson. He served until 1845, when he was recalled to Britain and replaced by George Grey.
For 30 years from the 1860s New Zealand was governed by professional governors whose careers took them from minor islands to the larger Crown and self-governing colonies.
Captain George (later Sir George) Grey was New Zealand's most complex governor. He was governor, governor-in-chief and then governor again, serving from 1845 to 1853 and again from 1861 to 1868.
