Sir (John) Keith Waller (19 February 191414 November 1992) was a senior Australian public servant and diplomat.

Life and career

Keith Waller was born in Melbourne in 1914. He was educated at Scotch College and 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 ...

. Waller 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 1936, 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 1937 he was appointed Private Secretary to

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but ...

, then Minister for External Affairs. 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. In 1943 whilst senior officer to the Australian Legation at Chungking, Waller married Alison Dent in Bombay, India. 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 The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting i ...

. He received death threats, but later downplayed its significance and dismissed it as a "trivial case". He was appointed

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 Affairs (later Department of Foreign Affairs in 1970), retiring from the public service in 1974 on his 60th birthday. (42) 1960-62 Wallers inspecting cattle in Siberia

(42) 1960-62 Wallers inspecting cattle in Siberia

Soon after his retirement, Waller prepared a brief assessing the Australian Government security and intelligence apparatus as it existed in the mid-1970s. Waller died in Canberra on 14 November 1992 aged 78.

Awards

In June 1961, Waller was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire whilst Ambassador to the USSR. He was made a Knight Bachelor in 1968 during his time as Ambassador to the United States of America. A street in the

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

suburb of Casey was named Keith Waller Rise in 2011, in Waller's honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waller, Keith 1914 births 1992 deaths Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Australian Knights Bachelor Ambassadors of Australia to the Philippines Ambassadors of Australia to the Soviet Union Ambassadors of Australia to Thailand Ambassadors of Australia to the United States 20th-century Australian public servants