John Hardy (aviator)

John Hardy
Hardy in 2017
21st Administrator of the Northern Territory
In office
10 November 2014  30 October 2017
Governor GeneralSir Peter Cosgrove
Preceded bySally Thomas
Succeeded byVicki O'Halloran
Personal details
Born (1942-09-14) 14 September 1942
Midland, Western Australia
Spouse
Marie Vincenette
(m. 1962)
Alma materSouth Australian Institute of Technology
OccupationAviator, radiographer

John Laurence Hardy AO (born 14 September 1942) is an Australian aviator and businessman who founded the aviation company Airnorth in 1978 and Hardy Aviation in 1991. He was Administrator of the Northern Territory from November 2014 until October 2017.

Hardy was born at Midland Junction in Perth, Western Australia, and moved at the age of six to Broken Hill, where his father, Evan, was chief metallurgist at North Broken Hill mine. He was schooled at Broken Hill High School.

He moved to the Northern Territory in 1971 to work as a pilot in the South Australian and Territory Air Services, where he flew supplies from Darwin to the Indonesian island of Ceram for the American oil giant Gulf and Western's oil field there. When aviation work was not available, Hardy worked as a radiographer at Darwin Hospital in Larrakeyah.

On 10 November 2014, Hardy was sworn in as Administrator of the Northern Territory by Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove.