NSW had eight different Treasurers in the first eight years of self-government after 1856.
It was Geoffrey Eagar who finally provided direction and stability to NSW Treasury, first as an elected Treasurer, then as Under Secretary of the Treasury – this position was in effect the senior public servant employed to lead the department.
Born in Sydney, Eagar worked as a bookkeeper and then as chief accountant at the Bank of New South Wales before being appointed to the NSW Legislative Council and later elected to the Legislative Assembly as the member for West Sydney.
After a couple of periods as elected Treasurer between 1863 and 1868, Eagar fell into personal financial difficulty until in 1871 the Premier appointed him to a position at Treasury, where he became permanent head from 1872 to 1891.
His background in accounting and as Treasurer meant he possessed skills which few if any of the sixteen Treasurers he served over the next twenty years possessed.
Eagar created a powerful Treasury organisation and introduced new accounting to effectively gain control of expenditure. He implemented sweeping financial and administrative reforms, dumped the controversial free-trade tariff and imposed stamp duty taxation.
Eagar believed that government should play a major role in promoting economic growth, mainly by the judicious construction of public works and carefully devised fiscal policy. He orchestrated the floating of loans and the repayments, convincing various British financiers of the colony's capacity to repay.
Although a determined reformer and forceful administrator, he was impatient of criticism, almost tyrannical in his treatment of subordinates, clashed with other politicians and bureaucrats, and sometimes moved too swiftly in advance of public opinion.
