People Australia

Herbert Anton Peterson c.1946

Supplied by author

Herbert Anton Peterson (1887-1963), diplomatic pioneer, was born on 11 September 1887 at Redfern, Sydney, one of three children of Peter Anton Peterson, a Danish-born mariner, and Sydney-born Alicia Mary Bignell.[1]Herbert’s family circumstances were very modest. He attended Leichardt Public School and on occasion travelled with his family on his father’s Pacific voyages. In 1902 he was accepted into the Postmaster-General’s Department (PMG) at the Central Post Office in Sydney, where he worked until September 1905.[2]Just shy of his eighteenth birthday Peterson’s father died by suicide. He then entered private employment with John Bridge & Co Ltd, one of the leading wool-broking firms in the city.[3]

Three years later Peterson performed exceptionally well in a competitive examination for the position of assistant at the PMG, and in May 1909 he was recorded as working as a postal assistant in the telegraph branch.[4] In September 1911 he was promoted to clerk, fifth class, in the correspondence and records branch. Then in March 1914 he moved to the Prime Minister’s Department, working temporarily on the staff of the governor-general on two occasions that year. The governor-general’s official secretary described him as ‘one of the most promising officers it has ever been my pleasure to work with.’[5] He was promoted to clerk, fourth class, in October 1915.

Peterson married Gladys Isobel Wise on 15 July 1916 in Melbourne, Victoria. She was the daughter of George Wise, a non-Labor federal parliamentarian almost continuously from 1906 to 1922, latterly a supporter of W. M. Hughes and briefly postmaster general. They were to have five children. That same year Peterson was seconded to serve as secretary for the Transcontinental Railway Royal Commission. Justice Eagleson’s commendation for his service stated that it would be ‘impossible to find a more capable and conscientious officer.’[6] Peterson was proficient at European languages and, according to family lore, often carried a language book in his pocket. Partly thanks to these skills, in 1918 he was once again seconded, this time as secretary to a French government mission travelling in Australia.[7] He was later decorated as Chevalier of the Nicham Iftikhar (1924) for his contributions.[8]

Promoted to clerk, third class, Peterson was dispatched to the London High Commission the following year.[9]  Arriving on 8 October 1919, he first worked in the intelligence section. In 1921 he became chief clerk when the previous occupant of the post proved unsatisfactory. While in London, he received a special allowance for preparing items reporting on Australian parliamentary business to the Journal of the Parliaments of the Empire, a quasi-official organ under the management of Sir Howard d’Eggville.[10] Peterson’s work took him to Europe on multiple occasions, where he served as secretary and interpreter to Australian delegations to the League of Nations (the League) Assembly, the International Labour Organisation, and the Brussels Financial Conference. He also attended the Genoa Economic and Financial Conference in 1922 and visited relatives in Sweden.

Despite pleas that he and his invaluable language abilities could not be replaced, Peterson was obliged to return from Europe in 1922 and was appointed private secretary to Prime Minister S. M. Bruce. In applying (unsuccessfully) in June 1923 for a position in the department to work on Australia’s relationship with the League he noted: ‘I may mention that I was offered a good position on the Secretariat of the League of Nations with salary of £750 per annum, but, for domestic reasons, I was obliged to decline the offer.’[11] This sum was twice as large as the salary he was then receiving. In early 1924 he applied for the position of official secretary in the office of the commissioner in New York, his application backed by an excellent reference from J. R. Collins under whom he had worked in London.[12] He was again unsuccessful.

In February 1925 Peterson was transferred to the Prime Minister’s Department’s external affairs branch as clerk, third class, on a salary of £528.[13] His new position placed his linguistic gifts at the service of the Commonwealth; according to a later report, in one year alone his translation work had entailed the rendering into English of thirty-seven foolscap pages of French, 131 of German, four of Spanish, four of Italian, one of Dutch, and one of Portuguese.[14] In 1927 he returned to Europe as an adviser to the Australian delegation attending the League Assembly, led by Senator Pearce, for whom he also performed secretarial work. After his role was abolished, he transferred to a new position in which he was responsible for the section concerned with League matters (excluding disarmament), commercial treaties, and consular matters. In 1935 Peterson’s portfolio of responsibilities became known as the international co-operation section. Meanwhile, aware that a university education was now needed to qualify for further appointments, he began studying languages at Canberra University College (BA, 1934).

In 1935 the Department of External Affairs was reestablished. As its most senior member, Peterson acted as secretary when the head, William Roy Hodgson, was absent. According to one colleague, Alan Watt, he saw ‘no prospects of further advancement’ and so moved to the Department of Commerce.[15] There his talents were appreciated. In January 1938 he became the nation’s trade representative in Batavia. Although trade matters were his principal responsibility, he found consular and intelligence tasks also demanded his attention, and the local authorities accorded him a quasi-diplomatic status.[16]

From July 1941 the Australian government had been considering appointing a full diplomatic agent to the Netherlands East Indies in light of the territory’s crucial strategic significance. In January 1942 the Dutch were asked to accept London High Commissioner Bruce as minister to the exile government, and Lt. Col. Eugene Gorman as Australian Consul-General in Batavia.[17] Gorman was confirmed in the post on 2 February. Peterson complained that the arduous work he had undertaken in the interim had not received the appropriate recognition, and that he was not prepared to work under the direction of a new appointee. Undoubtedly a factor in his bitterness was the fate of two of his four sons, one killed over Malaya (in December 1941) and the other a prisoner of war.[18]

As Japanese forces advanced on Singapore, the acquisition of military supplies became a major responsibility for Peterson, in which task he was extraordinarily successful. He also worked to ensure the evacuation of Australian civilians, many of them women, and some of whom had escaped from Singapore with no possessions or funds. Meanwhile, removing his office to Bandung as the Dutch authorities fled Batavia, Peterson continued his now frantic efforts to purchase supplies of essential war goods, especially rubber and quinine, for shipping to Australia. He even returned to Batavia by road, though Japanese forces could have appeared at any time, to wind up the finances of his mission. The work of his local assistant, Choa Tiang Goan, proved invaluable. In a later account Peterson was able to report that he had arranged the shipping of 66 tons of quinine (all, he stated, that was available), and rubber and sisal to the value of £277,338.

With the Japanese advancing through Java, Peterson followed the consular officials of Britain, the United States, and China to the southern port of Tjilatjap (Cilacap), then under air attack. With the last units of the RAN departing for Australia, he was assigned to help work an ancient coal fired freighter, the Generaal Verspicjk, whose crew had deserted. Escorted by the corvette HMAS Maryborough, the ships left port on the evening of 2 March, being among the last vessels to escape.[19] As he later reported: ‘Our small freighter was attacked by a submarine but escaped, and an enemy plane at sea was driven off by our escort.’[20] On the day of the latter attack, just over the horizon, HMAS Yarra and the three merchant vessels it had under escort were destroyed by a Japanese squadron of cruisers; Peterson and his fellow escapees were probably saved by the advent of a heavy squall.[21] The ships arrived safely in Fremantle on 10 March.[22] Gorman, meanwhile, had been unable to travel to take up the post of consul-general. In March 1942 in London, High Commissioner Bruce was accredited as Australian minister to the Dutch government, and Dutch representatives received reciprocal accreditation in Canberra.

During the war years Peterson worked at the Department of Commerce and Agriculture in Sydney and Canberra. In October 1945 cabinet approved the reappointment of Peterson to the Batavia post, however this did not eventuate due to the fluid political situation and the desire for a more senior person to be appointed to the role.[23] Disappointed not to return to Batavia, he was offered the position of consul-general to the Philippines, which entailed his transfer back to the Department of External Affairs.[24] He arrived in May 1946 to what he described as the ‘unbelievable devastation of Manila.’[25] His task in establishing the mission was made immensely difficult by shortages of every kind, especially accommodation and transport and the prevailing lawlessness. By 1947 his office consisted of four positions, with three additional locally employed staff.[26]

Peterson began the work of representing Australia in Manila, which entailed working out a division of labour regarding consular duties with the British consul-general.[27] In 1947 he became dean of the diplomatic corps, which imposed additional tasks on his modest establishment, still working from premises in the Manila hotel where he occupied a room adjacent to the office. In December 1947 he returned to Australia, living in the Canberra suburb of Ainslie and serving as the head of the branch of the Department of Commerce that managed the trade commissioner service.

Peterson retired after thirty-five years in government service. At his farewell gathering in February 1953, he was presented with a gold wristwatch. The speakers included the Minister for Commerce and Agriculture, John McEwen, and the secretary of the Department, Dr John Crawford.[28] Peterson died in Sydney on 24 March 1963. Though not as well remembered as some of his colleagues, he was one of a literal handful of pioneer diplomats who, despite meagre resources, successfully laid the foundations for Australia’s diplomatic machinery.

[1] For this and other information I am drawing in part upon documents kindly provided by the Peterson family.

[2] Commonwealth of Australia Gazette no. 59, 19 December 1902, 622.

[3] J. L. Cumpston’s External Affairs historical file on Peterson includes excerpts from various personnel documents, now unavailable: National Archives of Australia (NAA): A3299, FOLDER 2.

[4] Commonwealth of Australia Gazette no. 41, 22 August 1908, 1230.

[5] Cumpston typescript, NAA: A3299, FOLDER 2.

[6] Eagleson to Shepherd, 1 September 1916, NAA: A3832, RC10 ITEM 1.

[7] NAA: C5211, 1200; Herald (Melbourne), 21 December 1918, 1; ‘Services During War,’ Age, 16 February 1924, 17.

[8] World (Hobart), 11 February 1924, 6.

[9] Commonwealth of Australia Gazette no. 92, 24 July 1919, 1189; Cumpston historical file, NAA: A3299, FOLDER 2; on Peterson’s skills, Cook to Hughes, 7 March 1922, NAA: A458, E1/15.

[10] Shepherd to Deane, 2 September 1921, Cumpston Papers, National Library of Australia, MS9647, Box 18.

[11] Peterson memorandum, 13 June 1923, excerpt in Cumpston historical file, NAA: A3299, FOLDER 2.

[12] Peterson memorandum, January 1924, excerpt in in Cumpston historical file, NAA: A3299, FOLDER 2.

[13] Commonwealth of Australia Gazette no. 12, 5 February 1925, 184; Sydney Morning Herald, 6 February 1925, 12.

[14] Statement of duties, 7 February 1930, NAA: CP290/14, 7.

[15] Alan Watt, Australian Diplomat: Memoirs of Sir Alan Watt (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1972), 19.

[16] Telegraph (Brisbane), 15 January 1938, 11. On Peterson in Batavia, see NAA: A601, 410/8/1.

[17] On the Gorman appointment, see NAA: A2937, 17; A461, N703/1/4.

[18] Murphy to Hodgson, 23 January 1942, NAA: A601 411/1/5.

[19] On HMAS Maryborough, see Brian Ogle, The History of H.M.A.S. Maryborough: Corvettes in World War II (Wahroonga: Brian F. Ogle, 1992), 62-5; ‘World War II history : The last corvettes to leave Tjilatjap,’ Teluk Penyu, 19 September 2006, https://telukpenyu.blogspot.com/2006/09/world-war-ii-history-last-corvettes-to.html.

[20] Peterson to Murphy, 23 March 1942, NAA: A601, 410/8/1.

[21] Peterson to Murphy, 23 March 1942, NAA: A601, 410/8/1.

[22] ‘Incoming passenger list for GENERAL VERSPIJCK,’ NAA: A907, 1942/3/54; Courier-Mail(Brisbane), 5 March 1942, 3.

[23] Burton to Evatt, 4 October 1945,  NAA: A3195, 1945 [O.25497]; W. J. Hudson and W. Way (eds), Documents on Australian Foreign Policy 1937-49, Volume VIII: 1945 (Canberra: AGPS, 1989), Doc. 290.

[24] On Manila appointment and role, see NAA: A1067, T46/291; A1067, IC46/99/4/1.

[25] Peterson to Dunk, 28 May 1946, NAA: A1838, 1371/1 PART 1.

[26] Memorandum, Peterson for Secretary, 2 August 1947, NAA: A1838, 1371/1 PART 1.

[27] See, for example, External Affairs to Peterson, 4 March 1947, NAA: A1067, IC46/99/4/2.

[28] Canberra Times, 28 February 1953, 4.