{"record":{"aliases":[],"appointmentIds":["australia-144416be8028c0","australia-70768d6ac441e3"],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":[],"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/nick-parkinson-a62feb4791/","countrySlug":"australia","entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/nick-parkinson-a62feb4791/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["Nicholas Fancourt Parkinson was born in England in 1925 and moved to Australia when his father became headmaster of the King's School, Parramatta. After wartime service in the Royal Australian Air Force, he joined External Affairs as a cadet in 1951. His postings included Cairo and Hong Kong, and he became high commissioner in Singapore before promotion to deputy secretary in 1974.","He first led the Washington embassy in 1976, organising Malcolm Fraser's visit. He returned to Canberra to head Foreign Affairs in 1977–79, then began a second Washington posting.","Parkinson carried the Fraser government's messages to Jimmy Carter during the campaign to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics. In March he transmitted Fraser's suggestion that Carter approach Pierre Trudeau to enlist Canadian support, explaining why Canada mattered to the campaign. In May he delivered a less encouraging message: the Australian Olympic Federation had voted 6–5 to attend the Games despite the government's opposition. The ministers would continue urging sporting organisations and individual competitors to stay away.","Parkinson also attended Andrew Peacock's June 1980 talks with Secretary of State Edmund Muskie. Alongside the Olympic dispute, they discussed sanctions on Iran and the contested representation of Cambodia at the United Nations. Peacock presented the Australian policy positions.","Failing eyesight shortened Parkinson's second posting. He urged wider engagement with the American public as the wartime generation that had built the alliance left public life. Knighted in 1979, he died in Canberra in 2001."],"id":"australia:nick-parkinson","identifiers":{},"legacyPersonIds":[],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-a62feb479157e98e448a.html","name":"Nick Parkinson","notes":[],"paragraphSources":[["parkinson-reference","anu-career-envoys"],["anu-career-envoys"],["parkinson-olympics-march","parkinson-olympics-may"],["parkinson-muskie"],["anu-career-envoys","parkinson-reference"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-a62feb479157e98e448a.html","relatedEvents":[],"relatedPeople":[],"relationships":[],"researchStatus":"reviewed","reviewedOn":"2026-10-28","revision":"05818ce1f11f1ac4","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":null,"id":"parkinson-reference","locator":"Early life, career and awards; citations to Peter Henderson and Debra Hotson obituaries","publisher":"Wikipedia","title":"Nick Parkinson","type":"reference","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Parkinson"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"2016","id":"anu-career-envoys","locator":"David Lee, Parkinson sections, including 1982 memorandum on public diplomacy","publisher":"ANU Press","title":"The career diplomats: Sir Patrick Shaw, Alan Renouf and Sir Nicholas Parkinson, 1974–82","type":"scholarship","url":"https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n2237/html/ch09.xhtml?page=14&referer=2237"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1980-03-14","id":"parkinson-olympics-march","locator":"FRUS, 1977–1980, volume XXII, document 273","publisher":"U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian","title":"Letter from Ambassador Parkinson to President Carter, 14 March 1980","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v22/d273"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1980-05-28","id":"parkinson-olympics-may","locator":"FRUS, 1977–1980, volume XXII, document 276","publisher":"U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian","title":"Letter from Ambassador Parkinson to President Carter, 28 May 1980","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v22/d276"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1980-06-06","id":"parkinson-muskie","locator":"FRUS, 1977–1980, volume XXII, document 277, participant list and full conversation","publisher":"U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian","title":"Memorandum of Conversation: Peacock and Muskie, 6 June 1980","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v22/d277"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"2026-10-25","id":"mission-b49dc84b1fb92230a423","locator":"David Lee, ANU Press. Parkinson began March 1976, credentials 16 March; Renouf followed in 1977; Parkinson returned in 1979. Preserves separate terms.","publisher":"","title":"Australia goes to Washington — career diplomats, 1974–82","type":"Mission record","url":"https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n2237/html/ch09.xhtml?page=14&referer="}],"topics":["ANZUS","public diplomacy","Moscow Olympics boycott","Cambodia","Iran sanctions"]},"schemaVersion":1}