Asia, 1945-1984
- Component identifier:
- Series 12
- Content Summary:
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From October to December 1945 Ball went on a mission to Netherlands East Indies and Malaya. He was for six weeks the Australian Political Representative to Batavia, and reported to Commonwealth Cabinet on the mission. From March 1946 to August 1947 he was a member of the Allied Council for Japan, representing jointly the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and India. He held the personal rank of Minister, but from April to September 1947 he was concurrently Head of the Australian Mission in Japan. In 1948 Ball was leader of the Australian Government Goodwill Mission which visited East Asia.
Because many papers documenting these posts have been integrated, they are combined under the general heading 'Asia'. Ball's Batavia Diary and the diary of his period in Japan are very significant and were edited for the publication Intermittent diplomat: W. Macmahon Ball and Asia, 1945-48 (Melbourne University Press, 1988). Further papers on Japan are in Series 13.
There was some tension between Ball and the Minister for External Affairs, Dr H.V. Evatt. Their opinions differed and Evatt was critical of Ball's performance in Netherlands East Indies and Japan. Difficulties with Evatt made Ball's resignation inevitable and he left Japan in August 1947. This series documents some of the friction and Ball's defensive statements.
- Immediate source of acquisition:
- The collection was purchased in 1987 from Ball's widow, Katrine.
Contents
Access and use
- Parent Restrictions:
- Access conditions may apply to this collection, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1332360).
- Parent Terms of Access:
- Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
- Location of this collection:
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Parkes PlaceCanberra ACT 2600, Australia
- Contact: