Ruth Violet Lissant Dobson (5 October 191814 December 1989) was an Australian public servant and

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

Life and career

Ruth Dobson was born in Neutral Bay, NSW on 5 October 1918. Her younger sister was the poet

Rosemary Dobson Rosemary de Brissac Dobson, AO (18 June 192027 June 2012) was an Australian poet, who was also an illustrator, editor and anthologist.Anderson (1996) She published fourteen volumes of poetry, was published in almost every annual volume of ''Au ...

. Dobson was just seven years old when her father died. Dobson 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 1943 as a research assistant in the Department of External Affairs, having unsuccessfully applied for a cadetship earlier that year. In 1965, Dobson was seconded to Government House as private secretary to Lady Casey. Her 16 month secondment was followed by an appointment as First Secretary in the Australian Embassy in the Philippines. In 1974, when appointed Australian Ambassador to

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, Dobson became the first Australian woman career diplomat to be appointed an ambassador. She was the second Australian woman to work in an ambassadorial role— Dame Annabelle Rankin had been appointed High Commissioner to New Zealand in 1971, but Rankin's was a political appointment. In 1978, Dobson was appointed Australian Ambassador to

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. At the end of the posting, in 1981, Dobson retired. Dobson died on 14 December 1989 in Canberra.

Awards and honours

Dobson was made an Officer 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 ...

in 1982, in recognition of her services to the Australian Public Service. In late 2016, the

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is the department of the Australian government responsible for foreign policy and international relations, development aid (under the name Australian Aid), consular services, overseas trad ...

named one of its 16 meeting rooms in honour of Dobson, in recognition of her work as a pioneering female diplomat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobson, Ruth 1918 births 1989 deaths Ambassadors of Australia to Denmark Ambassadors of Australia to Ireland Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire University of Sydney alumni Australian women ambassadors 20th-century Australian women