44 Facts About Ralph Harry

Ralph Harry was recognised as a skilled diplomatic professional with a mastery of the traditional conventions and methods of diplomacy and politics.

Ralph Harry made a lifelong emotional commitment to the promotion of the interests of Australia and the betterment of his fellow men and women through the promotion of international law and institutions.

Ralph Harry was born in Geelong, Victoria on 10 March 1917, the youngest of four children.

Ralph Harry was brought up to be frugal, reticent and hardworking and in an atmosphere of reverence for academic achievement and the value of education.

Ralph Harry's mother was a committed Woman's Christian Temperance Unionist and became World President of the organisation while Ralph Harry was at school.

Ralph Harry's father moved to Launceston, Tasmania in 1922 to become classics master of Launceston Grammar School.

Ralph Harry attributed his commitment to public service to Sir Frederick's example of tireless and effective commitment to church and State and he was, throughout his life, proud of all that Sir Frederick had achieved.

Ralph Harry was placed in Launceston Grammar School as a student in 1924 and was dux of his class in every year he spent at the school.

Ralph Harry found time for wide sporting involvement, representing his school in football, athletics and swimming.

Ralph Harry left school in 1934 after receiving the award for the best all-round scholar, sportsman and leader and winning a general university scholarship.

Ralph Harry sat for the Commonwealth Public Service exam and came first in Tasmania and second in Australia.

Ralph Harry became a clerk in the Hobart ordnance stores, a job he held during his undergraduate studies in law at the University of Tasmania in Hobart.

Ralph Harry graduated with first class honours in law in 1938 and applied for and was awarded the Tasmanian Rhodes Scholarship.

Ralph Harry arrived in Oxford to undertake his BA in early 1939 after working his way to England on a cargo boat for one shilling a month.

Ralph Harry took up residence in Lincoln College, where John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, had his rooms in the 19th Century.

Ralph Harry became a correspondent for Isis, the Oxford University newspaper.

Ralph Harry had been attracted to evangelical Christianity in his youth and continued that interest through University.

Ralph Harry made a quick visit to Amsterdam and The Hague in the summer of 1939 to a World Christian Youth Movement congress.

Ralph Harry described the scene of panic on the streets during the mobilization and the desertion of the Hall of Justice.

Ralph Harry explained to his family that, as he stood in the empty building, he promised himself that:.

Ralph Harry spent the rest of his life working in one way or another to realize that ideal.

Ralph Harry maintained a profound belief in the banishment of all forms of war, poverty and oppression; but rather than repeat high principle he recognized that he would need to devote himself to particular spheres of activity where he felt able to make change.

Ralph Harry was convinced of the necessity for the involvement of youth in all of these policy arenas and was always willing to consider new and radical ideas.

Ralph Harry was however able to complete his degree in 1940 and after an unsuccessful attempt to join the British army he returned to Australia to join the recently formed Department of External Affairs.

Ralph Harry decided in 1942 that his responsibility was to join the AIF, which he did.

Ralph Harry served as an officer in military intelligence until 1943.

Ralph Harry was then recalled to the Department of External Affairs to be posted to the Australian High Commission in Ottawa, Canada where he worked from 1943 to 1945.

Ralph Harry became a member of the Australian delegation to the United Nations after its formation, until 1948.

Percy Spender as Australian Minister for External Affairs succeeding Richard Casey promoted the need for a strategic alliance between the United States and Australia and Ralph Harry was co-opted into Spender's negotiating team with instructions to prepare the first draft of the ANZUS treaty.

Ralph Harry moved to Melbourne late in 1957 to commence work on the report, which recommended substantial changes in the financing, operating structure and accountability of the service.

Ralph Harry agreed to replace the then Director, Alfred Brookes, and to remain as the Director of the Service during the reconstruction period.

From 1960 until his retirement in 1978 Ralph Harry continued to serve Australia with distinction in many senior posts.

Ralph Harry led Australia's delegations to many United Nations conferences including the ILO, WHO, UNCTAD, and ECAFE; he led Australia's delegation to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea which resulted in the adoption of a wholly revised Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Ralph Harry was given responsibility within the Department of Foreign Affairs for the management of Australia's Antarctic policy and treaty relationships and was Australia's principal negotiator of the Timor Gap treaty with Indonesia consequent on the resumption by the Indonesian Republic of the administration of East Timor.

Ralph Harry was appointed as Australia's Ambassador to Belgium and the European Community from 1965 to 1968; to South Vietnam during the war years of 1968 to 1970; to the Federal Republic of Germany from 1971 to 1975; to the United Nations as Australia's permanent representative from 1975 to 1978.

Ralph Harry was a fine bridge player, a keen gardener, cook and preserver; a passionate devotee of cryptic crosswords and mathematical puzzles.

Ralph Harry followed international affairs and was regularly consulted on the history of Australian diplomacy and foreign affairs.

In 1960 Ralph Harry was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Ralph Harry was an active evangelist for the Esperanto cause, and a prolific Esperanto writer, conference-goer, lexicographer, translator, administrator and a committed promoter of the potential of an international language to bring down the barriers of suspicion and intolerance that exist between nations.

Ralph Harry succeeded in persuading the UN and NASA to accept a message in Esperanto.

Ralph Harry edited a modest booklet with sport related terms in Esperanto and their translation into English, French and German.

Ralph Harry wrote an English-Esperanto bridge dictionary, a review of Peter Benson's Comprehensive English-Esperanto Dictionary and a collection of familiar quotations from languages around the world, with their Esperanto equivalents.

Ralph Harry was the main translator of the "" which brought excerpts of Australian literature to the Esperanto-speaking world.

Ralph Harry was member of AEA's examination commission and funded several of its projects.