Alfred Stirling
[1] Stirling joined the Department of External Affairs in Canberra, where he headed the political section for a year.In 1937 he was sent to London as a liaison officer with the United Kingdom, and stayed there through World War II.In 1947–1948, he was for fifteen months the minister in Washington, United States, and in 1948 appointed as high commissioner to South Africa.While staying there Stirling helped soften the Dutch position to the territorial claims of Indonesia, and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1953.[1] Stirling never married, and in his early diplomatic assignments was accompanied by his mother and sister Dorothy.