The Department of the Environment, Aborigines and the Arts was an

Australian government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

department that existed between May 1971 and December 1972. The department, created by the McMahon government, was a grab-bag of three areas which had previously been handled by other departments or government agencies. These included the

Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...

, the Department of the Vice-President of the Executive Council, and the Office of Aboriginal Affairs in the

Prime Minister's Department A cabinet department or prime minister's department is a department or other government agency that directly supports the work of the government's central executive office, usually the cabinet and/or prime minister, rather than specific ministe ...

. The department was abolished by the incoming Whitlam government, with its functions split across six departments (the Departments of Aboriginal Affairs, Environment and Conservation, Media, Prime Minister and Cabinet, Special Minister of State, Science and Services and Property).

Scope

Information about the department's functions and/or government funding allocation could be found in the Administrative Arrangements Orders, the annual Portfolio Budget Statements and in the department's annual reports. At its creation, the department dealt with: *activities related to the environment *Aboriginal affairs *support for the arts and letters *the

National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public library, public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, o ...

*Australian films *national archives *general services of printing, publishing and advertising (including the ''Gazette'') *world expositions *grants to national organizations *overseas visits *war memorial and war graves *overseas property

Structure

The department was an

Australian Public Service The Australian Public Service (APS) is the federal civil service of the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for the public administration, public policy, and public services of the departments and executive and statutory agencies of the G ...

department, staffed by officials who were responsible to the Minister for the Environment, Aborigines and the Arts. The department's first Minister,

Peter Howson Peter Howson OBE (born 27 March 1958) is a Scottish painter. He was a British official war artist in 1993 during the Bosnian War. Early life Peter Howson was born in London of Scottish parents and moved with his family to Prestwick, A ...

, was not keen on the job, reportedly calling the portfolio "trees, boongs and poofters." The secretary of the department was

Lenox Hewitt Sir Cyrus Lenox Simson Hewitt (7 May 1917 – 28 February 2020) was an Australian public servant. His career in the Commonwealth Public Service spanned from 1939 to 1980, and included periods as a senior adviser and departmental secretary. His ...

References

Australia, Environment, Aborigines and the Arts Environment, Aborigines and the Arts 1971 establishments in Australia 1972 disestablishments in Australia

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

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