Frederic Eggleston

Frederic Eggleston was a Melbourne lawyer, Victorian politician, and writer on government and social policy. He chaired the Commonwealth Grants Commission from 1933 to 1941, helping shape its approach to federal finances, before becoming Australia’s first minister to China in 1941. ¹

In wartime Chongqing, Eggleston argued for greater Allied attention to the Pacific. He moved to Washington in 1944 to replace Owen Dixon and attended the 1945 San Francisco conference that founded the United Nations. Illness limited his participation there, and he retired from active diplomacy in 1946. ¹

Eggleston then advised the Department of External Affairs, taught diplomatic cadets, and served on the Australian National University’s interim council. His later books included Reflections of an Australian Liberal and the posthumously published Reflections on Australian Foreign Policy. ¹