Harry C. Giese

This article is about the Australian public servant. For the German actor (no family relationship), see Harry Giese.

Harry Christian Giese AM, MBE (9 December 1913 – 4 February 2000) administered Australian federal government policy for the people of the Northern Territory for Prime Ministers including Robert Menzies and Harold Holt and Ministers including Paul Hasluck.^[1][2]

Harry C. Giese AM, MBE
Harry C. Giese in the 1970s
Born	(1913-12-09)9 December 1913 Greenbushes, Western Australia
Died	4 February 2000(2000-02-04) (aged 86) Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
Occupation(s)	Government administrator, public servant, and community leader
Partner	Nancy (Nan) Giese
Website	www.harrychristiangiese.com.au

Early life and education

Harry Christian Giese (Harry C. Giese, H.C. Giese) was born in Greenbushes, Western Australia^[1], a third-generation descendant of a German family who migrated to Australia in the 1870s.^[3][4][5] The family had originally migrated to Clare, South Australia then Victoria, and then to Western Australia.^[1]

Giese attended Bunbury High School, during which time his father was killed by a falling tree when Harry was 14.^[1][6] His mother sold the family assets, and it was thanks to a generous bursary scheme and help from his uncles that Giese was able to attend the University of Western Australia (UWA).^[1][7]

He played Australian Rules football for UWA in 1933. Later switching to Rugby Union, he became a skilled full back (rugby union) player and went to Ceylon with a combined Australian team. In 1937 he played for a WA team against the South Africa national rugby union team, and in 1946 for a New South Wales country team against the All-Blacks.^[1]

Career

In 1954, after senior public service jobs in Western Australia and Queensland,^[8] Giese moved to Darwin, Northern Territory as the Director of Welfare in the Northern Territory Administration.^[9][10] The Welfare Branch managed a suite of programs for Aboriginal advancement in health, education, housing, job creation and training, and cultural preservation.^[1] Giese saw education as key to social change.^[11] He established pre-school and primary school services throughout the Territory, and provided opportunities for secondary and tertiary education, and adult education in parenthood and child care, literacy and Australian society. Welfare Branch officers worked with missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant, in child, family and social welfare.^[12] Hostels and institutions included Carpentaria Junior Residential College (Church of England), Retta Dixon Home (Aborigines Inland Mission) and Garden Point Mission (Catholic)

The Welfare Branch worked with the Retta Dixon Home at Bagot Aboriginal Reserve in Darwin, a home for Aboriginal children, and some mothers. In response to hearing that the older children were not allowed to attend the cinema or social events in Darwin unsupervised, in 1955 Giese asserted that, since they were wards of the state, the government should have a say in what they were permitted to do "as they approach the age where they will need to undertake their own responsibilities". He also recommended encouraging children from the home to join groups such as the Scouts and Girl Guides and Police Citizens Youth Clubs, now Police and Community Youth Clubs.^[13]

Giese was the longest-serving member of the Northern Territory Legislative Council, from 1954 to 1973, pushing through policies that progressively removed legislative restrictions on the rights of Aboriginal people, and moved towards their citizenship and equality with other Australians.^[1][14]

After Cyclone Tracy^[1] devastated much of Darwin on 25 December 1974, Giese headed the Darwin Disaster Welfare Council. In 1978, after Territory self-government, he became the first Northern Territory Ombudsman.^[15][16][17]

As founding chairman of the Northern Territory Committee of the Menzies Foundation, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Menzies School of Health Research,^[18][19] serving on its Board of Governors from 1985 to 1995 and as Deputy Chairman from 1987 to 1995.^[1] His committee brought together as stakeholders the NT government, the Menzies Foundation, the University of Sydney and the embryo Northern Territory University, to set up the now-thriving school. It meets the challenges of living in tropical and arid areas, and improving the health of Aboriginal Australians.^[20]

Giese's obituary in the Menzies Foundation Annual Report 1999 said: "the continuing contribution made...to the health of northern Australians is a tribute to the vision, the enthusiasm and the advocacy of Harry Giese, who first identified the need for such a School, and who later vigorously pursued its establishment and strongly supported its work".^[21]

Recognition and honours

Giese was founding president and honorary life member of numerous community service and sporting organisations, including the Royal Life Saving Society Australia, Relationships Australia, NT Rugby Union, Darwin Probus Club, and the Institute of Public Administration Australia.^[22][23][24]

Giese was made a Member of the Order of Australia and an honorary fellow of the University of Sydney.^[7]

Personal life

Giese married schoolteacher Nancy (Nan) Wilson at St John's Cathedral in Brisbane on 4 May 1946. She went on to have distinguished career of her own, and the couple had two children.^[7]