List of colonial governors in 1879

Portugal

 * Angola – Vasco Guedes de Carvalho e Meneses, Governor-General of Angola (1878–1880)

United Kingdom

 * Jamaica – Sir Anthony Musgrave, Governor of Jamaica (1877–1883)
 * Malta Colony – Arthur Borton, Governor of Malta (1878–1884)
 * New South Wales
 * Hercules Robinson, Lord Rosmead, Governor of New South Wales (1872–1879)
 * Lord Augustus Loftus, Governor of New South Wales (1879–1885)
 * Queensland – Sir Arthur Kennedy, Governor of Queensland (1877–1883)
 * Tasmania – Major Frederick Weld, Governor of Tasmania (1875–1880)
 * South Australia – Lieutenant-General William Jervois, Governor of South Australia (1877–1883)
 * Victoria
 * George Bowen, Governor of Victoria (1873–1879)
 * George Phipps, Lord Normanby, Governor of Victoria (1879–1884)
 * Western Australia – Major-General Harry Ord, Governor of Western Australia (1877–1880)