Guide to the Papers of Alexander Dix, 1937-1999

Summary

Collection number:

MS 9919

Creator:

Alexander Dix

Extent:

1.4 metres and (10 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Alexander Dix, National Library of Australia, MS 9919, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The papers mainly document Dix’s schooldays and early career and his public activities in the last twenty years or so of his life. They include letters, speeches, notes, photographs, certificates, invitations, programs, agenda papers and minutes, official papers, newspaper cuttings and publications. There are papers relating to many of the organisations and institutions with which Dix was involved and in particular the 1979-81 Committee of Inquiry into the Australian Broadcasting Commission (the Dix Committee) and the National Museum of Australia. Correspondents include Jerry Ellis, Sir William Heseltine, Sir Geoffrey Yeend, Sir Harold White, J. Norgard and H.E. Maude.

There are virtually no papers relating to Dix’s career as a businessman.

Biographical Note:

Alexander Thomas Dix was born in Melbourne on 18 February 1927. He was educated at Scotch College and the University of Melbourne, where he graduated with Honours in History in 1949. Manning Clark was his thesis supervisor. He married Elizabeth Pryce on 30 April 1949.

In 1949 Dix joined the staff of the Archives Division of the Commonwealth National Library in Canberra. He also lectured in History at Canberra University College. In 1951 he was seconded to the South Pacific Commission in Sydney and spent four years in its Social Development Section, which was headed by H.E. Maude. In 1955 he became private secretary to F.M. Osborne, who was Minister for Customs and later Minister for Air in the Menzies Government. In 1959 Dix joined the international company Reckitt and Colman, initially as assistant to the chairman. He remained with the company until 1983 and in later years was Managing Director of its Australian subsidiary and Group Director, Planning and Control.

From the late 1970s onwards, Dix served on the boards of a growing number of companies, organisations and government bodies. For nine years he was chairman of the National Museum of Australia Council. He was Deputy Chancellor of the University of Western Sydney, chairman of the Australian Maritime Museum Council and the Australian Council for Bibliographical Services, and a member of the New South Wales Science and Technology Council, the Hawkesbury Agricultural College Council and the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories Council. His name became widely known when he chaired a major inquiry into the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1979-81.

Dix was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1984. He died in Sydney in December 2001, survived by his wife and six children.

Immediate Source of Acquisition:

The papers were presented to the Library by Mrs Ann Dix in 2002.

Arrangement:

Most of the papers had been kept in files or large envelopes and these groupings have been retained. The main exception were the papers on the Committee of Inquiry into the ABC and the National Maritime Museum, which were rather disordered. The present arrangement of these two series was made by Library staff.

Indexed terms

Names:

Alexander Dix

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn3600123).

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Alexander Dix, National Library of Australia, MS 9919, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

Contact us