Sir Richard Kingsland, (19 October 1916 – 27 August 2012) was an Australian

RAAF The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the governor-general of Aus ...

pilot known for being the youngest Australian group captain at age 29. He later became a senior public servant, heading the Departments of the Interior, Repatriation, and Veterans' Affairs.

Biography

Julius Allan Cohen was born in 1916. He later changed his name to Richard Kingsland, to avoid anti-semitism. Kingsland flew a

Short Sunderland The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat Maritime patrol aircraft, patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

in 1940 with two of Britain's senior WWII leaders,

Duff Cooper Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich, (22 February 1890 – 1 January 1954), known as Duff Cooper, was a British Conservative Party politician and diplomat who was also a military and political historian and writer. First elected to Parl ...

and

John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, (10 July 1886 – 31 March 1946) was a senior British Army officer. As a young officer during the First World War, he was decorated with ...

, who were attempting to make a diplomatic agreement with French leaders in North Africa. When negotiations failed, Kingsland evacuated the VIPs with pistol drawn. He then managed a difficult take off from a river estuary, while being harassed by a French police boat. For his invaluable service, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in September 1940. Later in the war he served in the Pacific, flying the

PBY Catalina The Consolidated Model 28, more commonly known as the PBY Catalina (U.S. Navy designation), is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft designed by Consolidated Aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s. In U.S. Army service, it was designated as the O ...

to bomb a major Japanese headquarters in

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

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

. In June 2010, he published his autobiography, ''Into the Midst of Things''.

Public service

During his public service career, rising to become Secretary of the Departments of Interior,

Repatriation Repatriation is the return of a thing or person to its or their country of origin, respectively. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as the return of mi ...

, and

Veterans' Affairs Veterans' affairs is an area of public policy concerned with relations between a government and its communities of military veterans. Some jurisdictions have a designated government agency or department, a Department of Veterans' Affairs, Minist ...

, Kingsland served 12 ministers and built a reputation as a trusted and experienced departmental head.

Awards and honours

Richard Kingsland was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in 1967. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in 1978, and appointed an

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

in 1989. In 2013, 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 Kingsland Parade in Richard Kingsland's honour.

Death

Richard Kingsland died in August 2012, aged 95. He was survived by his wife of 68 years, Kathleen Kingsland, two daughters and a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kingsland, Richard 1916 births 2012 deaths Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Australian Jews Australian Knights Bachelor Australian World War II bomber pilots Australian World War II pilots Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Officers of the Order of Australia Australian recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Australian Air Force officers Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Secretaries of the Australian Government Veterans' Affairs Department