Sir Tasman Hudson Eastwood "Tas" Heyes (6 November 189625 June 1980) was a senior Australian public servant and policymaker. 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 Immigration The Department of Immigration was an Australian government department that existed between July 1945 and June 1974. Scope Information about the department's functions and/or government funding allocation could be found in the Administ ...

between May 1946 and November 1961.

Life and career

Tasman Heyes 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 1912 as a messenger 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 1941, he was Acting Director of the

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving pe ...

, and oversaw the opening of the institution. Between 1946 and 1961, Heyes was Secretary of the Department of Immigration under minister

Arthur Calwell Arthur Augustus Calwell (28 August 1896 – 8 July 1973) was an Australian politician who served as the leader of the Labor Party from 1960 to 1967. He led the party to three federal elections. Calwell grew up in Melbourne and attended St J ...

He defended 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 ...

, preferring British and Northern European immigrants, and people of 'Aryan' stock. Heyes died on 25 June 1980 and was cremated.

Awards

Heyes was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in June 1953. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in January 1960 for service as Secretary of the Department of Immigration. In 1962, Heyes was awarded the

Nansen Refugee Award The Nansen Refugee Award is awarded annually by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to an individual, group, or organization in recognition of outstanding service to the cause of refugees, Internally displaced person, displac ...

by the UN Refugee Agency, for his work as head of the Department of Immigration.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heyes, Tasman 1980 deaths 1896 births Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Secretaries of the Australian Government Immigration Department Nansen Refugee Award laureates