Keith Waller

Sir (John) Keith Waller CBE (19 February 1914 – 14 November 1992) was a senior Australian public servant and diplomat.

Sir Keith Waller CBE
Waller in 1958
Secretary of the Department of External Affairs
In office 6 April 1970 – 6 November 1970
Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs
In office 6 November 1970 – 3 January 1974
7th Ambassador of Australia to the United States
In office 20 April 1964 – 1 June 1970
Preceded by	Howard Beale
Succeeded by	James Plimsoll
Personal details
Born	John Keith Waller (1914-02-19)19 February 1914
Died	14 November 1992(1992-11-14) (aged 78)
Nationality	Australian
Parent	Arthur James Waller[1]
Alma mater	University of Melbourne
Occupation	Public servant

Life and career

Keith Waller was born in Melbourne in 1914.^[2][3] He was educated at Scotch College^[4] and Ormond College at the University of Melbourne.^[2]

Waller joined the Commonwealth Public Service in 1936, in the Department of External Affairs.^[2] In 1937 he was appointed Private Secretary to Billy Hughes, then Minister for External Affairs.^[5]

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.^[2] In 1943 whilst senior officer to the Australian Legation at Chungking, Waller married Alison Dent in Bombay, India.^[6][7]

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".^[8]

He was appointed Secretary of the Department of External Affairs (later Department of Foreign Affairs in 1970), retiring from the public service in 1974 on his 60th birthday.^[9]

Waller in Siberia, 1960s

Soon after his retirement, Waller prepared a brief assessing the Australian Government security and intelligence apparatus as it existed in the mid-1970s.^[10]

Waller died in Canberra on 14 November 1992 aged 78.^[11][12]

Awards

In June 1961, Waller was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire whilst Ambassador to the USSR.^[13] He was made a Knight Bachelor in 1968 during his time as Ambassador to the United States of America.^[14]

A street in the Canberra suburb of Casey was named Keith Waller Rise in 2011, in Waller's honour.^[3]