John Keith McCarthy (20 January 1905 – 29 October 1976) was an Australian public servant in the

Territory of Papua and New Guinea The Territory of Papua and New Guinea, officially the Administrative Union of the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea, was established by an administrative union between the Australian-administered territories of Territory of Pap ...

. He rose to become Director of Agriculture, also serving as a member of the Legislative Council and

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible gover ...

Biography

McCarthy was born in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda in 1905 to Mary (née Gibbs) and Thomas McCarthy.McCarthy, John Keith (1905–1976)
Australian Dictionary of Biography His father was an immigrant from Ireland and worked as a warehouseman. He was educated at Christian Brothers College,''The Members of the House of Assembly 1964'', p32 after which he was a

jackaroo A jackaroo is a young man (feminine equivalent jillaroo) working on a sheep or cattle station, to gain practical experience in the skills needed to become an owner, overseer, manager, etc. The word originated in Queensland, Australia, in the ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, before returning to Melbourne to work at

Mark Foy's Mark Foy's Limited or Mark Foy's was a department store in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, founded by Francis Foy and his brother Mark Foy. The department store was named after their father, Mark Foy (senior) and traded between 1885 and ...

. He then went to

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, where he worked as a cane cutter. In 1927 McCarthy moved to the

Territory of New Guinea The Territory of New Guinea was an Australian-administered United Nations trust territory on the island of New Guinea from 1914 until 1975. In 1949, the Territory and the Territory of Papua were established in an administrative union by the nam ...

to become a patrol officer.J.K. McCarthy, 'man of action'
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', December 1976, p69 He returned to Australia in 1929 to complete a course at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one o ...

. In 1933 his patrol group was attacked and he was in hospital for several weeks recovering from arrow wounds. He married Jean Bilby at All Saints Church in

St Kilda East St Kilda East is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Glen Eira and Port Phillip local government areas. St Kilda East recorded a population of ...

in April 1937. At the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

McCarthy was an Assistant District Officer at Talasea. He helped evacuate civilians from

Rabaul Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about 600 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in ...

after the Japanese attack, for which he was awarded an MBE. He commanded local

coastwatchers The Coastwatchers, also known as the Coast Watch Organisation, Combined Field Intelligence Service or Section C, Allied Intelligence Bureau, were Allied military intelligence operatives stationed on remote Pacific islands during World War II ...

and the

ANGAU The Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) was a civil administration of Territory of Papua and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea formed on 21 March 1942 during World War II. The civil administration of both Papua and the Mand ...

scouts and became Military Resident Commissioner of

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

. Following the war he was appointed a District Officer, before being promoted to District Commissioner of

Madang Madang (old German name: ''Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen'') is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 (in 2005) on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century. Hist ...

in 1949. He later held the same role in Rabaul. In

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

he was appointed to the Legislative Council as one of the official members. In 1955 he became executive officer of the Department of the Administrator, and was briefly Acting Administrator of Nauru in 1957. In 1960 he was appointed Director of Native Affairs, and in 1963 he published a memoir ''Patrol into Yesterday''. Following the

1964 elections The following elections occurred in 1964. Africa * 1964 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1964 Central African Republic parliamentary election * 1964 Central African Republic presidential election * 1964 Dahomeyan general election * 1964 Gabo ...

, he became an official member of the new House of Assembly, also serving as its Deputy Speaker. He awarded a CBE in the

1965 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1965 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate t ...

. McCarthy retired from the civil service in 1967. He contested the Moresby Open seat in the 1968 elections, losing to Percy Chatterton. He was a cartoonist for the

Papua New Guinea Post-Courier The ''Papua New Guinea Post-Courier'' is a newspaper based in Konedobu, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It was established on 30 June 1969. Its parent company, The Herald and Weekly Times (later purchased by News Corp Australia), had acquired ...

,And the Times was in despair
''Papua New Guinea Post-Courier'', 30 June 1969 before returning to Melbourne in 1971, where he died in 1976 at the age of 71.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, John Keith 1905 births Public servants from Melbourne Territory of New Guinea people Australian public servants Australian military personnel of World War II Papua New Guinean civil servants Members of the Legislative Council of Papua and New Guinea Administrators of Nauru Members of the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire 1976 deaths People from St Kilda, Victoria Military personnel from Melbourne Australian people of Irish descent