Sir Keith Charles Owen "Mick" Shann (22 November 1917 – 4 August 1988) was a senior Australian public servant and diplomat.

Life and career

Mick Shann was born in the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

suburb of

Kew, Victoria Kew (;) is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km east from Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Boroondara local government area. Kew recorded a population of 24,499 at the 2021 census. A city in ...

, on 22 November 1917. His father was Frank Shann, a respected teacher and headmaster. He studied arts at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb n ...

, where he was in residence at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

from 1936 to 1936, winning the Alcock Scholarship. Shann's first

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 ...

positions were at the Bureau of Census and Statistics in 1939 and the

Department of Labour and National Service The Department of Labour and National Service was an Australian government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. ...

from 1940 to 1946. In 1946, he moved to the

Department of External Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

in Canberra to take up an appointment as second secretary of the United Nations Division in the department. In 1955, Shann was appointed Minister to the Philippines. From 1962 to 1966 Shann was

Australian Ambassador to Indonesia The Ambassador of Australia to Indonesia is an officer of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the head of the Embassy of the Commonwealth of Australia to the Republic of Indonesia. The position has the rank and status of ...

, during the time of the

Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation or Borneo confrontation (also known by its Indonesian language, Indonesian / Malay language, Malay name, ''Konfrontasi'') was an armed conflict from 1963 to 1966 that stemmed from Indonesia's opposition t ...

. Shann perceived "clouds of mistrust" preventing close ties between the neighbouring countries at the time, suggesting that Indonesians were "puzzled at Australia being a European outcrop on the edge of Asia", but that Australia had no reason to fear Indonesia. In 1970, Shann was appointed a Deputy Secretary in the

, shortly before it was renamed the Department of Foreign Affairs. In this role until 1973, he worked alongside

Departmental secretary In Australia, a departmental secretary is the most senior public servant of an Australian Government or state government department. They are typically responsible for the day-to-day actions of a department. Role A departmental secreta ...

Keith Waller 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. He was educated at Scotch College and the University of Melbourne. Wa ...

to raise the department's reputation and morale. During his time in the Deputy Secretary role, he insisted that the department's staff should go back on regular Public Service classifications and salary levels and the formal separation between diplomatic and administrative foreign affairs staff should be abolished. Shann was appointed Australian Ambassador to Japan in 1973. From Japan, he was appointed chairman of the Public Service Board, commencing in the role from 28 March 1977. After 17 months as board chairman, Shann resigned from the Public Service at age 60, citing personal and family reasons. Shann died on 4 August 1988, at 70 years of age.

Awards and honours

Shann was made 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 January 1964 while he was Ambassador in Jakarta. He was appointed a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are t ...

in June 1980. In 2012, a street in the Canberra suburb of

Casey Casey may refer to: Places Antarctica *Casey Station *Casey Range Australia * Casey, Australian Capital Territory * City of Casey, Melbourne * Division of Casey, electoral district for the House of Representatives Canada * Casey, Ontario * Ca ...

was named Mick Shann Terrace in Shann's honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shann, Mick 1917 births 1988 deaths People educated at Trinity College (University of Melbourne) Ambassadors of Australia to Japan Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Australian Knights Bachelor Ambassadors of Australia to Indonesia Ambassadors of Australia to the Philippines Public servants from Melbourne People from Kew, Victoria