Department of External Affairs, 1930s-1978

Component identifier:

Series 6

Content Summary:

In December 1942 Forsyth joined the Department of External Affairs as a research officer studying Australian interests in South East Asia and the Pacific. He then moved into political work in 1945. From 1945 to 1948 he represented the Department on a number of special assignments. These included the United Nations Conference on International Organisation in San Francisco (1945), political adviser to the Australian Force Commander, Portuguese Timor, member of the Australian delegation to the Far Eastern Advisory Commission (FEAC) in 1945 and Leader of the Australian delegation to FEAC in Tokyo 1946. He attended a Population Conference in New York in 1946, the South Seas Regional Commission in February 1947 and undertook a special mission to Java in May 1947.

This series includes handwritten diary notes, draft reports, letters, photographs and miscellaneous notes. A full account and description of the special assignments can also be found in the relevant chapters and notes of 'The Evatt years' (Series 15). In August 1947 Forsyth was appointed Counsellor at the Australian embassy in Washington, but in practice he spent most of his time in New York at the General Assembly and other United Nations bodies. United Nations material from this period is included in series 8.

Correspondents include Sir Frederick Eggleston, Jawaharlal Nehru, Paul Hasluck, Mark Ridgway, W.J. Hudson and David Plant.

Immediate source of acquisition:

The papers were donated to the Library in several small instalments during the 1970s and 1980s and one large instalment after Forsyth's death in March 1993.

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