Casey, Richard Gavin Gardiner, Baron

Casey, Richard Gavin Gardiner, Baron (b. 29 Aug. 1890, d. 17 June 1976). Australian governor-general 1965–9 Born in Brisbane, he was educated at the Universities of Melbourne and Cambridge. He served in the Australian Imperial Force during World War I at Gallipoli and in France. He returned to Melbourne to take up his father's business interests in 1919, and he befriended Bruce, whose political agent he became in 1924, when he was appointed Australia's liaison officer in London. He returned to Australia in 1931 and was elected to the House of Representatives for the United Australia Party. He became Lyons's adviser on international affairs, and in 1940 became the first Australian representative to a country outside the Commonwealth, the USA. He became a member of the British War Cabinet from 1942, and in 1944 was appointed governor of Bengal. Returning to Australian politics in 1946, he became federal president of the Liberal Party in 1947, entering Parliament in 1949. As Minister for External Affairs (1951–60) he focused Australian foreign policy on its hitherto neglected relations with its Asian neighbours, away from the traditionally exclusive emphasis on the UK and the Commonwealth. He accepted the peerage as Baron Casey of Berwick (Victoria) and the City of Westminster in 1960. In 1965 he became the first Australian appointed as governor-general by a non-Labor government.