Charles Christopher Halton (4 March 193216 October 2013) was a senior Australian public servant.

Life and career

Charles Halton was born on 4 March 1932 in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

. As an engineer in England in the 1950s and 60s, Halton was associated with the development of the

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France and t ...

and the guidance system of the

Bristol Bloodhound The Bristol Bloodhound is a British ramjet powered surface-to-air missile developed during the 1950s. It served as the UK's main air defence weapon into the 1990s and was in large-scale service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the forces of f ...

Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the he ...

appointed Halton Secretary of the

Department of Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The ...

in 1973, and Halton and his family moved to Canberra from Canada where they had lived since 1969. The Halton family stayed in Canberra, with Charles Halton appointed to further senior positions in the

Australian 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 ...

, as Secretary of the

Department of Defence Support The Department of Defence Support was an Australian government department that existed between May 1982 and December 1984. History The department was established by the Fraser Government after a recommendation from the Defence Review ...

(1982-84), as Chairman leading a taskforce on Youth Allowance Administration (1984–85) and as Secretary of the

Department of Communications A Communications Ministry or Department of Communications is a ministry or other government agency charged with communication. Communications responsibilities includes regulating telecommunications, postal services, broadcasting and print media. T ...

(1986–87).

Awards

Charles Halton was honoured as a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in 1983.

References

References and further reading

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Halton, Charles 1932 births Australian public servants 2013 deaths English emigrants to Australia Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire