Alan Salisbury and Jean Salisbury interviewed by John Farquharson [sound recording]
- Bib ID:
- 1078261
- Format:
- Audio
- Author:
- Salisbury, Alan, 1917- 2004, interviewee
- Access Conditions:
- Written permission required for research use and public use.
- Description:
-
- 2001
- 6 digital audio tapes (ca. 6 hr. 4 min.)
- Summary:
-
Alan Salisbury had a distinguished career spanning 38 years in the Defence Department of the Commonwealth Public service. He, with his wife, Jean, are the last living members of the War Cabinet Secretariat of World War II. Salisbury traces his long career in the Defence Department, covering his work as one of the five people who formed working side of the War Cabinet Secretariat and the many facets of defence policy and development with which he was associated in the post-war years until his retirement in 1972. He gives insights and impressions of the people he worked with - colleagues, departmental heads and politicians and contacts with wartime leaders. Jean adds to Alan's experiences and memories with some of her own, particularly what it was like coping with the pressures and demands of those intense wartime years. She also touches on her work in relation to St John's Anglican Church graveyard in the Canberra suburb of Reid, which led to her writing a book about it.
- Biography/History:
-
Alan Salisbury was born on March 14, 1917 in Prahran, Victoria, and was educated at University High School, Melbourne, and Melbourne University. He began work with the Department of Defence in April 1934. As he was then completing the final stages of an accountancy course, he was assigned to the finance branch, before being transferred to the finance secretariat in 1938 to assist in the formulation of Australia's first three-year defence program. In 1941 he transferred to the War Cabinet Secretariat, where he remained until it was disbanded in 1946. After the war he was involved in arrangements for the demobilisation of the Australian forces, aspects of post-war reconstruction, the formulation of defence policy from the financial side and some of the major developments in the re-equipment of the armed forces during that period.
Jean Salisbury (then Jean Nicholson) was born on January 5, 1922 at Coburg, Victoria. She was educated at Coburg High School before attending business college to train as a stenographer/typist. After passing the Commonwealth Public Service entrance exam, she was appointed to the Defence Department in January 1939 as a stenographer. After working in the typing pool, she became stenographer to the Secretary of the Defence Committee. In 1942 she applied for and was appointed from 16 applicants to the position of personal stenographer to the Secretary of the Department, Sir Frederick Shedden. She remained in that position until she had to leave the department in May 1945 upon her marriage to Alan Salisbury.
- Notes:
-
- Recorded on June 5, 12, 21 & 26 and July 3 & 10, 2001 in Canberra, A.C.T.
- Digital master available National Library of Australia;
- Index/Finding Aid Note:
- Timed summary available.
- Subject:
-
- Salisbury, Alan, 1917-2004 -- Interviews
- Salisbury, Jean, 1922-2014 -- Interviews
- Australia. Department of Defence -- Officials and employees -- Interviews
- Australia. War Cabinet -- History
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Australia
- Australia -- Defenses -- Government policy
- Australia -- Politics and government -- 1939-1945
- Other authors/contributors:
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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- Reason for copyright status:
- Until 2071 [Created/Published Date + 70 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Sound Recording
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 2001
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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