Ralph Harry
The son of Arthur Hartley Harry, a senior classics master at the Geelong College, and Ethel Roby Holder; the family's circumstances were modest.[citation needed] Harry also found time for wide sporting involvement, representing his school in football, athletics and swimming.Harry left school in 1934 after receiving the award for the best all-round scholar, sportsman and leader and winning a general university scholarship.[citation needed] As a Rhodes scholar, Harry was expected to contribute to the sporting life of the college and found his niche in rowing.In one of his many letters to his family during this period, he recounted how he visited the Hall of Justice of the Palace of Peace on 29 August 1939, the day on which the Dutch Government mobilised its armed forces for the Second World War.He 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.This was to bring into effect the proposals for global post-war organisation that the main WWII allies had agreed at the Dumbarton Oaks conference in the United States in late 1944.Evatt (then Attorney General and Minister for External Affairs in the Curtin/Chifley Governments) and participated in the processes by which the United Nations was established in October 1945.His proudest accomplishments were his substantial contribution, in the UN Commission, to the drafting and adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and his role in persuading the United States to make available to Australia and a small group of other nations radio-isotopes for medical research and clinical application.Decolonisation and independence had arrived in India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Burma and Indonesia; the communist revolution occurred in China in 1949; war in Korea broke out in 1950; French control in Indochina was being disputed.Harry's first diplomatic mission was as Consul-General and United Nations Representative in Geneva from 1953 to 1956, followed by his appointment as Australian Commissioner in Singapore from 1956 to 1957.He 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.His connection with ASIS was only revealed with the publication in 1989 of the book “Oyster”, an exposé by Brian Toohey of the Australian security intelligence apparatus.Not even his family was aware of his activities and he kept no records of ASIS of any kind in his personal papers-unlike Casey, who maintained an extensive political diary of his intelligence involvement.Inspired by the well-known Esperanto-cabaretist Raymond Schwartz, he published humorous short stories and memories from his professional life in many Esperanto periodicals.