Keith Waller Explained

Sir Keith Waller
Office1:Secretary of the Department of External Affairs
Term Start1:6 April 1970
Term End1:6 November 1970
Office2:Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs
Term Start2:6 November 1970
Term End2:3 January 1974
Office3:7th Ambassador of Australia to
the United States
Term Start3:20 April 1964
Term End3:1 June 1970
Predecessor3:Howard Beale
Successor3:James Plimsoll
Birth Name:John Keith Waller
Birth Date:19 February 1914
Occupation:Public servant
Nationality: Australian
Parents:Arthur James Waller[1]
Alma Mater:University of Melbourne

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.[2] He was educated at Scotch College[3] and Ormond College at the University of Melbourne.[2]

Waller joined the Commonwealth Public Service in 1936, in the Department of External Affairs.[2] In 1937 he was appointed Private Secretary to Billy Hughes, 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.[2] In 1943 whilst senior officer to the Australian Legation at Chungking, Waller married Alison Dent in Bombay, India.[4]

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. He received death threats, but later downplayed its significance and dismissed it as a "trivial case".[5]

He was appointed Secretary of the Department of External Affairs (later Department of Foreign Affairs in 1970), retiring from the public service in 1974 on his 60th birthday.[6] Soon after his retirement, Waller prepared a brief assessing the Australian Government security and intelligence apparatus as it existed in the mid-1970s.[7]

Waller died in Canberra on 14 November 1992 aged 78.[8] [9]

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

Notes and References

  1. News: Obituary: Mr A. J. Waller. The Argus. 29 January 1945. 7.
  2. Keith. Waller. John Donald Bruce Miller. 1974. Keith Waller interviewed by Professor J. D. B. Miller.
  3. Fewster . Alan . waller-sir-john-keith-27590 . Waller, Sir John Keith (1914–1992) . 2021 . 19 . 24 October 2022 .
  4. News: To marry in Bombay. The Sydney Morning Herald. 19 February 1943. 3.
  5. Book: Sullivan, Rodney. 'It had to happen': the Gamboas and Australian–Philippine interactions. Discovering Australasia: Essays on Philippine-Australian Interactions. Reynaldo C. Ileto . Rodney Sullivan. 1993. James Cook University. 112.
  6. News: Changing of the guard at Foreign Affairs. Bruce. Juddery. Bruce Juddery. 2 January 1974. The Canberra Times. 2.
  7. News: George Brandis controls the future of scathing spy papers . Alan. Fewster. 11 April 2014. The Australian. News Ltd.
  8. News: Obituary: Sir Keith Waller- A diplomat of the old school. 17 November 1992. The Canberra Times. 7.
  9. News: Deaths. 16 November 1992. 23. The Canberra Times.