Harold Patrick Breen (30 April 18936 July 1966) was a senior Australian public servant. He was head of the

Department of Defence Production The Department of Defence Production was an Australian government department that existed between May 1951 and April 1958. Scope Information about the department's functions and/or government funding allocation could be found in the ...

between 1951 and 1957.

Life and career

Harold Breen was born on 30 April 1893 in Richmond, Melbourne. He commenced his

Commonwealth 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 ...

career in 1910 in the

Department of Defence Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

in the Ordnance Department. Rising up the ranks, he was appointed Secretary of the Department of Supply and Development in July 1949, and later head of the Department of Supply in 1950. When the Department of Defence Production was established in 1951, Breen was appointed as its inaugural head. He remained in the position until his retirement in 1957. Breen died in

Malvern Malvern or Malverne may refer to: Places Australia * Malvern, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide * Malvern, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne * City of Malvern, a former local government area near Melbourne * Electoral district of Malvern, an e ...

on 6 July 1966 and was buried in St Kilda Cemetery.

Awards

Breen was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in June 1953 during his time as head of the Defence Production Department.

References

1893 births 1966 deaths 20th-century Australian public servants Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Richmond, Victoria Public servants from Melbourne {{Australia-gov-bio-stub