About the Casey Library and its contributors
The Casey Library is a small and specialized library on international affairs and foreign relations located in the National Office of the Australian Institute of International Affairs. The historic collection contains works contributed by Lord Casey and other distinguished supporters of the Australian Institute of International Affairs. The library is available for reference to all AIIA members, and to other interested persons by arrangement.
Richard Gavin Gardiner Casey was born in Brisbane in 1890 and studied at Melbourne University before completing a mechanical engineering degree at the University of Cambridge, England. Casey worked as a geologist and mining consultant in Queensland, New Guinea and the United States before joining up with the AIF at the outbreak of World War One. He served at Gallipoli as orderly officer to Major General Sir William Bridges, and then in France.
Casey stood as a candidate for the newly-formed United Australia Party in the 1931 federal elections, becoming the member for the Geelong-based seat of Corio. In 1935, Prime Minister Joseph Lyons appointed him Treasurer. Robert Gordon Menzies, who became Prime Minister in 1939, appointed Casey Minister for Supply and Development, and in 1940 he was made the first Australian minister to the USA. Casey handled his portfolio admirably but after John Curtin's Labor Party came to power he moved to Cairo, taking a position on the British War Cabinet as Minister of State. From his base in Cairo, he made visits to the United Kingdom and the USA.
Returning to Melbourne in 1946, Richard Casey worked to win the seat of Latrobe for the Liberal Party under Menzies, a goal he achieved in 1949 when Menzies won government from Labor's Ben Chifley. He was Minister for Works and Housing and Minister for National Development before becoming Minister for External Affairs as well as Minister in charge of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). He continued to hold these portfolios until his retirement from parliament in 1960.
On Casey's retirement he accepted a life peerage as Baron Casey of Berwick, Victoria, and took his seat in the House of Lords. In 1965 at the age of 74 he was made Governor-General. At the end of his five-year term he and his wife retired to their farm in Victoria. In the same year he was named Australian of the Year.
In their retirement, Lord and Lady Casey lived at Edrington and took an interest in the establishment of the new City of Berwick, attending the Proclamation Ceremony on October 1973. Lord Casey never fully recovered from a car accident in 1974, and died on 17 June 1976. Lady Casey died in 1983. (Extracted from W. J. Hudson, “Casey, Richard Gavin Gardiner [Baron Casey] (1890 - 1976)” , accessed: 23/11/07.)
Sir Ian Clunies Ross (1899-1959) is described as the 'architect' of Australia's scientific boom, for his stewardship of Australia's scientific organisation the CSIRO. Clunies Ross was born in Bathurst, New South Wales on February 22, 1899. He was educated at Newington College and in 1917 he entered the University of Sydney, in the Agriculture Faculty, and transferred to Veterinary Science at the beginning of 1918, graduating with honours in 1920. In 1921, Clunies Ross was given a temporary lectureship in veterinary anatomy, the following year he was made a Fellow of The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, allowing him to a travel overseas. In 1926 Clunies Ross was appointed parasitologist to the newly established Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and was funded to continue research at the Sydney University Veterinary School. He was president of the Australian Institute of International Affairs from 1941–1945. He was a vocal commentator on international affairs throughout the remainder of his career. He served as the executive officer of the CSIR until 1949 when it was renamed the CSIRO. He was chair of the CSIRO until his death in 1959. During this time he oversaw the release of myxomatosis for rabbit control in Australia.
Daniel Philip McElligott was born in Ireland and spent his early career in the Royal Air Force from 1943-66. Thereafter he settled in Australia and was employed within government, including in the Department for Treasury 1967-70, Assistant Secretary and Senior Advisor for External Relations and Defence Department 1970-76. He also worked for and was a life long member of the Australian Institute of International Affairs. Philip McElligott was also a founding member of the Australia-Japan Society.
Sir Alan Watt is a well-known Australian diplomat and writer. He studied at the University of Sydney. He served as the Australian Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany. Prior to his posting to Bonn, Sir Alan was Ambassador to Japan and was formerly Secretary to the Department of External Affairs in Canberra.
Sir Laurence McIntyre is remembered as one of the most skillful Australian diplomats in the recent history of Australia. He is the former chairman of the Security Council of the United Nations in 1970s. He acted as the National Executive Director of the Australian Institute of International Affairs from 1976 to 1979.
Kate Webb (1944-2007) was born in New Zealand and grew up in Australia. She was a leading foreign correspondent and one of the first female war correspondents. She covered the wars in Vietnam and Cambodia for United Press, at one stage being believed dead after being captured in Cambodia by the South Vietnamese Army. She survived this ordeal and went on to report extensively from Indonesia, Korea and Afghanistan, as well as from other locations. She showed great empathy for the countries and people where she was posted and always believed that the pre-eminent task of a journalist was to report the facts accurately. She died of cancer in May 2007, mourned by her family and friends.