United Kingdom, 1980-81
- Component identifier:
- Series 19
- Content Summary:
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Plimsoll was appointed Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in February 1980. Although the High Commission had been in existence for seventy years, he was the first career diplomat to hold the office. Apart from Sir John Bunting, all previous High Commissioners had been politicians. Plimsoll greatly enjoyed living in London, but his stay there was unexpectedly brief. In December 1980 the Government announced that, following a Cabinet reshuffle, Victor Garland, the former Minister for Business and Consumer Affairs, would replace Plimsoll as High Commissioner. Plimsoll left London in March 1981.
The series resembles the other diplomatic series in containing quite a lot of papers on Plimsoll's social and cultural activities, but very little on his official work. Most of the correspondence relates to his admission as a Liveryman of the Tallow Chandlers Company. There is also a letter from the former English cricket captain, Colin Cowdrey. The programs include the unveiling of the Australian Settlers' Memorial at Old Portsmouth by Queen Elizabeth on 11 July 1980. The photograph album was presented to Plimsoll and depicts a number of English places he visited and events in which he was involved, including his inspection of a bust of his forebear Samuel Plimsoll.
- Immediate source of acquisition:
- Sir James Plimsoll, who died on 8 May 1987, bequeathed his papers and books to the National Library. Following intervention by the Department of Foreign Affairs, the executors were informed that some of the papers were Commonwealth records and others were records of the Tasmanian Government. Consequently, the papers were transferred to the Australian Archives for detailed examination. It was finally determined that 149 boxes would come to the National Library, four boxes would be sent to the Tasmanian State Archives, and the remaining boxes would be retained by the Australian Archives. The papers were received by the National Library in March 1990.
- Names:
- Sir James Plimsoll
Contents
Access and use
- Parent Restrictions:
- Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1769030).
- 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- Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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: