OXFORD LECTURE

Sir Walter Crocker (Oxon) is one of Australia’s most distinguished diplomats, who also served with distinction as Lieutenant-Governor and Acting Governor of South Australia. Sir Walter was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1955 and was later elevated to Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 1978.

Sir Walter’s life and career were nothing short of remarkable. From his early beginnings on a small farm in Broken Hill, he advanced to study at Oxford and Stanford, ultimately achieving a global career in international relations and politics.
Before World War II, Sir Walter joined the British Colonial Service in Nigeria and later worked with the League of Nations in Geneva. During the war, he served as an intelligence officer and later highly decorated Lieutenant-Colonel with the British Army in the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and Congo, where he also frequently acted as a translator for General Charles de Gaulle.

After the war, he was appointed the first Chief of the African Section in the United Nations Secretariat in New York. He remained with the UN until 1949, when he took up an appointment as the first Professor of International Relations at the Australian National University in Canberra, where he also served as Acting Vice-Chancellor in 1951.

As a diplomat, Sir Walter served twice as High Commissioner to India, High Commissioner to Canada, and as Ambassador to Indonesia, Nepal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, and Italy. He was called out of retirement to serve as Lieutenant-Governor of South Australia, a position he greatly enhanced and held for nine years.

We hope that you will join us on the 25th of September to learn more about the incredible life and journey of the Oxford alumnus, Sir Walter Crocker, as experienced by his son and another Oxford alumnus, Dr Robert Crocker.