Ruth Dobson

Ruth Violet Lissant Dobson OBE (5 October 1918 – 14 December 1989) was an Australian public servant and diplomat.

Ruth Dobson

OBE
Born
Ruth Violet Lissant Dobson

(1918-10-05)5 October 1918
Neutral Bay, New South Wales
Died14 December 1989(1989-12-14) (aged 71)
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
NationalityAustralian
Alma materUniversity of Sydney (BA)
OccupationPublic servant, diplomat

Life and career

Ruth Dobson was born in Neutral Bay, NSW on 5 October 1918. Her younger sister was the poet Rosemary Dobson. Dobson was just seven years old when her father died.[1][2]

Dobson joined the Commonwealth Public Service in 1943 as a research assistant in the Department of External Affairs,[3][4] having unsuccessfully applied for a cadetship earlier that year.[1]

In 1965, Dobson was seconded to Government House as private secretary to Lady Casey.[1] Her 16 month secondment was followed by an appointment as First Secretary in the Australian Embassy in the Philippines.[5]

In 1974, when appointed Australian Ambassador to Denmark, Dobson became the first Australian woman career diplomat to be appointed an ambassador.[6] She was the second Australian woman to work in an ambassadorial role—Dame Annabelle Rankin had been appointed High Commissioner to New Zealand in 1971, but Rankin's was a political appointment.[7]

In 1978, Dobson was appointed Australian Ambassador to Ireland.[8] At the end of the posting, in 1981, Dobson retired.[7]

Dobson died on 14 December 1989 in Canberra.[1]

Awards and honours

Dobson was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1982, in recognition of her services to the Australian Public Service.[9]

In late 2016, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade named one of its 16 meeting rooms in honour of Dobson, in recognition of her work as a pioneering female diplomat.[10]

References
  1. Marchant, Syliva (2007), "Dobson, Ruth Violet (1918–1989)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University, archived from the original on 10 February 2016
  2. Dobson, Ruth; Hamilton, Ian (1984), Ruth Dobson interviewed by Ian Hamilton, retrieved 10 February 2016
  3. "Obituary: Ruth Dobson - A Brilliant Career". The Canberra Times. ACT. 20 December 1989. p. 2.
  4. Downer, Alexander (8 March 2005). "Speech notes: To launch the DFAT Exhibition "Women Working for Australia" On the occasion of International Women's Day 2005" (Press release). Archived from the original on 12 February 2014.
  5. "En route to Manila". The Canberra Times. ACT. 26 January 1967. p. 19.
  6. "New envoy guest speaker". The Canberra Times. ACT. 3 May 1974. p. 7.
  7. Goodall, Bill (26 December 1983). "Life not busy enough for a former ambassador". The Canberra Times. ACT. p. 6.
  8. "Reception". The Canberra Times. ACT. 4 November 1978. p. 8.
  9. Search Australian Honours: DOBSON, Ruth Lissant, The Order of the British Empire - Officer (Civil), Australian Government, archived from the original on 11 February 2016
  10. Lewis, Rosie (11 January 2017). "DFAT renames meeting rooms after female diplomats". The Australian. News Corp. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Gerald Harding
as Chargé d'affaires		 Australian Ambassador to Denmark
1974–1978		 Succeeded by
James Humphreys
Preceded by
Brian Hill		 Australian Ambassador to Ireland
1978–1981		 Succeeded by
Lloyd Thomson
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.