James Reginald Halligan (8 November 189421 November 1968) was a senior Australian public servant. Between 1944 and 1951, he was

Secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

of the Department of External Territories.

Life and career

Halligan was born on 8 November 1894 in East Melbourne to Jane and John J. Halligan. He attended

Christian Brothers College, St Kilda St Mary's College (formerly Christian Brothers College, St Kilda) is an Independent school, independent Catholic school, Catholic secondary school for boys and girls, located in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The school was f ...

. He joined the

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 ...

in the

Department of External Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

in 1911 and moved to the

Department of Home and Territories The Department of Home and Territories was an Australian government department that existed between November 1916 and December 1928. Scope Information about the department's functions and/or government funding allocation could be found ...

when it was established in 1916. After obtaining a diploma of commerce from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

in 1927, he moved to Canberra. In 1934, Halligan participated in the first air mail flight to New Guinea, captained by pioneer aviator

Charles Ulm Charles Thomas Philippe Ulm (18 October 1898 – 3 December 1934) was a pioneer Australian aviator. He partnered with Charles Kingsford Smith in achieving a number of aviation firsts, serving as Kingsford Smith's co-pilot on the first transpaci ...

. Halligan was head of the territories section of 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 ...

in 1941 when the Department of External Territories was created, when he became an Assistant Secretary. From 1944 to 1951, Halligan was

of the Department of External Territories. When

Paul Hasluck Sir Paul Meernaa Caedwalla Hasluck, (1 April 1905 – 9 January 1993) was an Australian statesman who served as the 17th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1969 to 1974. Prior to that, he was a Liberal Party politician, holding min ...

was appointed Minister for Territories in 1951 he was made a special adviser to the Minister. As an adviser, Halligan was freed from routine administration work to focus primarily on

United Nations Trusteeship Council The United Nations Trusteeship Council (french: links=no, Conseil de tutelle des Nations unies) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, established to help ensure that trust territories were administered in the best interests ...

matters. He remained employed as an adviser to Hasluck until his retirement in 1959. Halligan died on 21 November 1968 in Canberra.

Awards

Halligan was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1960.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halligan, James Reginald 1894 births 1968 deaths Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century Australian public servants People from East Melbourne Public servants from Melbourne People educated at St Mary's College, Melbourne University of Melbourne alumni