1. James Plimsoll served variously as Permanent Representative to the United Nations, High Commissioner to India, Secretary of the Department of External Affairs, Ambassador to the United States, Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Ambassador to Belgium and the European Economic Community, High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Ambassador to Japan, and Governor of Tasmania.
James Plimsoll graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Economics in 1938 and a Bachelor of Arts in 1941.
James Plimsoll was then appointed to the Bank of New South Wales as an economist.
James Plimsoll was appointed a First Secretary of the Department of External Affairs in 1948.
James Plimsoll was appointed the Australian representative on the United Nations Commission for Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea in 1950, during the Korean War.
James Plimsoll had a considerable influence on President Syngman Rhee, to whom he conveyed the views of the United Nations and the troop-contributing nations.
James Plimsoll expressed the Western nations' concerns about Rhee's undemocratic behaviour and abuse of human rights.
James Plimsoll was appointed as Australia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in 1959 and he became Australia's High Commissioner to India and Ambassador to Nepal in 1962.
In 1970, James Plimsoll was appointed as Ambassador to the United States of America, a job normally reserved in Australia for senior ex-politicians.
James Plimsoll was appointed as Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Economic Community in 1977.
In February 1980, James Plimsoll was named High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, replacing political appointee Gordon Freeth.
James Plimsoll was the first career diplomat appointed to the position.
James Plimsoll left London in March 1981 and took up his final diplomatic post as Ambassador to Japan.
James Plimsoll was described by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, in 2006 as Australia's "greatest Ambassador".
In November 1981, it was announced that James Plimsoll would succeed Stanley Burbury as Governor of Tasmania.
James Plimsoll was sworn in as governor on 1 October 1982.
James Plimsoll had no previous connections with Tasmania but had visited it a number of times.
James Plimsoll was only the second bachelor to serve in the office, and he took on all the patronages normally held by the governor's spouse.
James Plimsoll was popular in the state and his appointment was extended at the end of five years.
James Plimsoll died on 8 May 1987 following another heart attack, hours after attending a ceremony marking the anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea.
James Plimsoll was accorded a state memorial service at St David's Cathedral in Hobart, attended by the Governor-General of Australia and four other state governors.