Sir Keith Waller
CBE
Waller in 1958
Secretary of the Department of External Affairs
In office
6 April 1970 – 6 November 1970
Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs
In office
6 November 1970 – 3 January 1974
7th Ambassador of Australia to
the United States
In office
20 April 1964 – 1 June 1970
Preceded byHoward Beale
Succeeded byJames Plimsoll
Personal details
Born
John Keith Waller

(1914-02-19)19 February 1914
Died14 November 1992(1992-11-14) (aged 78)
NationalityAustralia Australian
ParentArthur James Waller[1]
Alma materUniversity of Melbourne
OccupationPublic servant

Sir (John) Keith Waller CBE (19 February 1914 – 14 November 1992) was a senior Australian public servant and diplomat.

Life and career

Keith Waller was born in Melbourne in 1914.[2][3] He was educated at Scotch College[4] and 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]

Waller in Siberia, 1960s

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

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

  1. ↑ "Obituary: Mr A. J. Waller". The Argus. 29 January 1945. p. 7.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Waller, Keith (1974). "Keith Waller interviewed by Professor J. D. B. Miller" (Interview). Interviewed by John Donald Bruce Miller.
  3. 1 2 Keith Waller Rise, ACT Government Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate, archived from the original on 27 February 2014
  4. ↑ Fewster, Alan (2021). "Waller, Sir John Keith (1914–1992)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 19. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  5. ↑ CP 950: Sir John Keith WALLER, National Archives of Australia, retrieved 12 September 2014
  6. ↑ "To marry in Bombay". The Sydney Morning Herald. 19 February 1943. p. 3.
  7. ↑ Sir Keith Waller and his wife on their wedding day, Bombay, India, 1943 [picture], National Library of Australia, retrieved 18 April 2014
  8. ↑ 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.
  9. ↑ Juddery, Bruce (2 January 1974). "Changing of the guard at Foreign Affairs". The Canberra Times. p. 2.
  10. ↑ Fewster, Alan (11 April 2014). "George Brandis controls the future of scathing spy papers". The Australian. News Ltd.
  11. ↑ "Obituary: Sir Keith Waller- A diplomat of the old school". The Canberra Times. 17 November 1992. p. 7.
  12. ↑ "Deaths". The Canberra Times. 16 November 1992. p. 23.
  13. ↑ Search Australian Honours:WALLER, John Keith, Australian Government, archived from the original on 17 April 2014
  14. ↑ Search Australian Honours:WALLER, John Keith, Australian Government, archived from the original on 17 April 2014
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