​1823

New South Wales Act 1823 reorganised legal system of colonial NSW under an Attorney General.

​1856

Self-government for NSW meant the position of Attorney General became an elected minister.

​1901

Department  of Attorney  General and Department  of Justice were amalgamated into the Department  of the Attorney General and Justice.

​1911

The department  was divided into a basic structure of two branches, later called divisions: Justice Branch and Attorney General's Branch, which continued until the 1970s.

​1970s

Attorney General and Justice became a single ministry and control of Police and Corrective Services moved  elsewhere. Department  acquired Office of the Protective  Commissioner and Justices of the Peace.

​1991

Department  split into Department  of Courts Administration and the Attorney General's  Department.

1995

Change of government  resulted in the merger of the Department  of Courts Administration with the Attorney General's Department.

2009

As part of the government’s ongoing public sector reform, the Attorney General’s Department and Department of Corrective Services were amalgamated on 1 July 2009 to form the Department of Justice and Attorney General.

2011

The Department of Attorney General and Justice was created in April 2011 as part of the new administrative arrangements for the public sector to support the NSW Government. 

2014

As the principal department for the Police and Justice Cluster, the department was renamed  the Department of Police and Justice in April 2014. Later that year, the department was retitled as the Department of Justice, the name which it has today.