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Keith Waller
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Sir (John) Keith Waller CBE (19 February 1914 – 14 November 1992) was a senior Australian public servant and diplomat.
Key Information
Life and career
[edit]Keith Waller was born in Melbourne in 1914.[2][3] He was educated at Scotch College[4] and Ormond College at the University of Melbourne.[2]
Waller joined the Commonwealth Public Service in 1936, in the Department of External Affairs.[2] In 1937 he was appointed Private Secretary to Billy Hughes, then Minister for External Affairs.[5]
His career proved to be long and successful, establishing himself as a successful diplomat across a number of postings, including to Moscow, Washington and Bangkok.[2] In 1943 whilst senior officer to the Australian Legation at Chungking, Waller married Alison Dent in Bombay, India.[6][7]
Waller was Australian Consul-General in Manila from 1948 to 1950. During this time he dealt with the fall-out of the Lorenzo Gamboa case, which saw a Filipino man separated from his wife and children due to the White Australia policy. He received death threats, but later downplayed its significance and dismissed it as a "trivial case".[8]
He was appointed Secretary of the Department of External Affairs (later Department of Foreign Affairs in 1970), retiring from the public service in 1974 on his 60th birthday.[9]
_1960-62_Wallers_inspecting_cattle_in_Siberia.jpg)
Soon after his retirement, Waller prepared a brief assessing the Australian Government security and intelligence apparatus as it existed in the mid-1970s.[10]
Waller died in Canberra on 14 November 1992 aged 78.[11][12]
Awards
[edit]In June 1961, Waller was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire whilst Ambassador to the USSR.[13] He was made a Knight Bachelor in 1968 during his time as Ambassador to the United States of America.[14]
A street in the Canberra suburb of Casey was named Keith Waller Rise in 2011, in Waller's honour.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ "Obituary: Mr A. J. Waller". The Argus. 29 January 1945. p. 7.
- ^ a b c d Waller, Keith (1974). "Keith Waller interviewed by Professor J. D. B. Miller" (Interview). Interviewed by John Donald Bruce Miller.
- ^ a b Keith Waller Rise, ACT Government Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate, archived from the original on 27 February 2014
- ^ Fewster, Alan (2021). "Waller, Sir John Keith (1914–1992)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 19. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
- ^ CP 950: Sir John Keith WALLER, National Archives of Australia, retrieved 12 September 2014[dead link]
- ^ "To marry in Bombay". The Sydney Morning Herald. 19 February 1943. p. 3.
- ^ Sir Keith Waller and his wife on their wedding day, Bombay, India, 1943 [picture], National Library of Australia, retrieved 18 April 2014
- ^ Sullivan, Rodney (1993). "'It had to happen': the Gamboas and Australian–Philippine interactions". In Reynaldo C. Ileto; Rodney Sullivan (eds.). Discovering Australasia: Essays on Philippine-Australian Interactions. James Cook University. p. 112.
- ^ Juddery, Bruce (2 January 1974). "Changing of the guard at Foreign Affairs". The Canberra Times. p. 2.
- ^ Fewster, Alan (11 April 2014). "George Brandis controls the future of scathing spy papers". The Australian. News Ltd.
- ^ "Obituary: Sir Keith Waller- A diplomat of the old school". The Canberra Times. 17 November 1992. p. 7.
- ^ "Deaths". The Canberra Times. 16 November 1992. p. 23.
- ^ Search Australian Honours:WALLER, John Keith, Australian Government, archived from the original on 17 April 2014
- ^ Search Australian Honours:WALLER, John Keith, Australian Government, archived from the original on 17 April 2014
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