Sir (John) Keith Waller (19 February 1914 – 14 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

Ormond College Ormond College is the largest of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne located in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is home to around 350 undergraduates, 90 graduates and 35 professorial and academic residents. H ...

at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

. 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 Gov ...

in 1936, in the Department of External Affairs. 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 from 1915 to 1923. He led the nation during World War I, and his influence on national politics s ...

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

Secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

of the Department of External Affairs (later

Department of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...

in 1970), retiring from the public service in 1974 on his 60th birthday. 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 Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

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