Paul Hasluck

His father was born in England and arrived in Australia in 1876 as a small child.

He obtained a position in the colonial postal service and was postmaster in Coolgardie and on the Great Southern Railway, but later resigned to work full-time for the Salvation Army.

His mother was born in England and came to Western Australia to work as a domestic servant, also becoming a devout Salvationist where she met her future husband.

Hasluck grew up in relative poverty, with the family often in financial distress as his parents undertook full-time missionary work.

He had a "strict religious upbringing" in line with the beliefs and tenets of the Salvation Army, but became estranged from the movement at a young age.

As a small child Hasluck spent periods in North Fremantle and in locations around regional Western Australia, including York, Kalgoorlie and Collie.

Sir Paul Meernaa Caedwalla Hasluck, (1 April 1905 – 9 January 1993) was an Australian statesman who served as the 17th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1969 to 1974.

Hasluck was born on 1 April 1905 in Fremantle, Western Australia, one of five children born to Patience Eliza (née Wooler) and E'thel Meernaa Caedwalla Hasluck.

By that time he had been married for seven years to Alexandra Darker (1908–1993), with whom he had two sons.

Alexandra Hasluck became a distinguished writer and historian in her own right, and was the first woman to be appointed a Dame of the Order of Australia.

The family lived in Collie for four years, where Hasluck's father ran a boys' home for child migrants, before moving back to Perth in 1916 where he ran the Aged Men's Retreat at Guildford.

After a brief period at the Guildford State School, Hasluck won a scholarship to Perth Modern School which he attended between 1918 and 1922.

He was president of the school debating society but later recalled that he lacked in confidence and did not consider going on to further studies.

In 1922, after leaving school, Hasluck joined the staff of The West Australian as a probationary cadet.

He was offered a full-time position in 1925 and covered a wide range of areas, including court and police reporting, sporting events, finance and drama and politics.

He was eventually placed in charge of the newspaper's press gallery staff at Parliament House and wrote a weekly political column covering state politics.

He cultivated a close relationship with the Perth Trades Hall and the union movement, developing a friendship with Westralian Worker editor and future prime minister John Curtin.

While at The West Australian, Hasulck also began to publish articles (in that journal and elsewhere) on the history of the state.

He would eventually enrol in the University of Western Australia six years after leaving school, completing a diploma in journalism on a part-time basis in 1932 and graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1937.

He would later contribute two volumes to Australia in the War of 1939–1945, the official history of Australia's involvement in the war.

After he had obtained his MA, he worked as a tutor in the UWA's history department, and in 1939 he was promoted to a lectureship in history.

Also in 1939, Hasluck established Freshwater Bay Press, through which he released his first book, Into the Desert.

The advent of the Second World War, however, saw the publishing company go into hiatus.

After the war Hasluck returned to the University of Western Australia as a Reader in History, and was commissioned to write two volumes of Australia in the War of 1939–1945, a 22-volume official history of Australia's involvement in World War II.

In 1941 Hasluck was recruited to the staff of the Department of External Affairs (it acquired the name "Foreign Affairs" only in 1970), and served on Australian delegations to several international conferences, including the San Francisco Conference which founded the United Nations.

Here he came into close contact with the Minister for External Affairs in the Labor government, Dr H.V. Evatt, towards whom he conceived a permanent aversion, fully reciprocated by Evatt's attitude to him.

Hasluck joined the Department of External Affairs during World War II, and served as Australia's first Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1946 to 1947.

In 1949, Hasluck was elected to federal parliament for the Liberal Party, winning the Division of Curtin.

Prior to that, he was a Liberal Party politician, holding ministerial office continuously from 1951 to 1969.

Hasluck was born in Fremantle, Western Australia, and attended Perth Modern School and the University of Western Australia.

After graduation he joined the university as a faculty member, eventually becoming a reader in history.

In 1951, less than two years after entering politics, he was made Minister for Territories in the Menzies Government.

In his twelve years in the position, he initiated transitions toward self-government in Australia's territories, including Nauru, Papua New Guinea, and the Northern Territory.

Hasluck later served as Minister for Defence (1963–1964) and Minister for External Affairs (1964–1969).

His tenure in those positions covered Australia's involvement in the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation and the first years of the Vietnam War.

After the disappearance of Harold Holt, Hasluck unsuccessfully stood in the resulting Liberal leadership election.

He initially stayed on in cabinet under the new prime minister, John Gorton, but in 1969 Gorton instead nominated him to replace Lord Casey as governor-general.

In his five years in the position, Hasluck saw two previous political adversaries (William McMahon and Gough Whitlam) become prime minister; he maintained good working relationships with both.

In retirement, he was a prolific author, publishing an autobiography, several volumes of poetry, and multiple works on Australian history.

The Freshwater Bay Press was later revived by his son Nicholas, and among its subsequent publications it issued a second book of Paul Hasluck's poetry, Dark Cottage in 1984.