AGY-6065 | Ceremonial and Hospitality Section (by1967-1978) / Protocol Division (1978-by1996) / Office of Protocol (by1996-2004)

Full description

The Ceremonial and Hospitality Section of the Premier’s Department was established by April 1967. (1)  The Section was responsible for organising State functions such as State funerals, luncheons, medal presentations, special commemorations and celebrations. In 1967, the Ceremonial and Hospitality Section included the Ceremonial and Hospitality Officer and an Assistant Ceremonial and Hospitality Officer. By 1973, there was also a Protocol Officer. (2)

After the introduction of a Divisional structure for the Premier’s Department in the 1970s, the Ceremonial and Hospitality Section became known as the Protocol Division. (3)  By the 1980s, the Protocol Division was responsible for arranging the reception and entertainment of distinguished visitors and Royal Visits, and was also responsible for State ceremonial and hospitality occasions and for matters related to Honours and Awards, and for the Consular Corps in New South Wales. (4)

In 1984, arrangements were made by the Division for the introduction and first presentation of the New South Wales Award, instituted by the Government to recognise Government employees who had attained forty years meritorious service to the State. (5)

The Ceremonial and Hospitality Section/Protocol Division was a separate branch of the Premier’s Department until September 1988 when it became a branch of the Office of State Administration. The Division remained within the Office of State Administration until after the establishment of the Office of Olympic Co-ordination in September 1993.  When the Office of Olympic Co-ordination was transferred to the new Olympic Coordination Authority on 6 April 1995 (6), the Premier’s Department was restructured and the the Protocol Division appears to have been renamed the Office of Protocol. (7)

In November 2002, following a rationalisation of functions relating to special events, official visits, honours and awards, the Office of Protocol became part of the Office of Protocol and Special Events that was formed from the merger of the activities of the Office of Protocol, Office of Governor, Special Events and Government Co-ordination Unit, and the Australia Day Council of NSW.(8)  According to the Organisation Chart for the Premier’s Department in 2002-03, (9) the Office of Protocol continued within the Office of Protocol and Special Events for some time. By the end of the 2003-04 financial year, it appears the different functional areas of the Office of Protocol were separated and became branches (Units) of the Office of Protocol’s superior agency, the Office of Protocol and Special Events. (10)

Endnotes
1. NSW Government Telephone Directory 1967, p.127.
2. NSW Government Telephone Directory 1973, p.178.
3. NSW Government Directory of Administration and Services 1978, p.229
4. NSW Premier’s Department, Annual Report, 1985-86, p.20.
5. NSW Premier’s Department, Annual Report, 1984, p.40.
6. NSW Government Gazette No.39, Special Supplement 5 April 1995, p.1861.
7. NSW Premier’s Department, Annual Report, 1994-95, p.5.
8. NSW Premier’s Department, Annual Report, 2002-03, p.4.
9. ibid., p.6.
10. NSW Premier’s Department, Annual Report, 2003-04, Organisation Chart, p.26.