Alan Fewster Alan Fewster i(A73117 works by)
Born: Established: 1956 ;
Gender: Male
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Works By

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1 y separately published work icon Intelligencer : The Secret World of Walter Cawthorn Australian Spymaster Alan Fewster , North Melbourne : Australian Scholarly Publishing , 2024 28841844 2024 single work biography 'Intelligencer tells the extraordinary story of Australia’s greatest spymaster, Walter Cawthorn. Trained as a teacher in Melbourne, he served at Gallipoli before joining the British Indian Army on the Western Front. From the Middle East to Vietnam, Cawthorn spied for four countries: Britain, India, Pakistan and Australia. In a career that took him from private soldier to Major General, Cawthorn created Pakistan’s ruthless Inter-Services Intelligence bureau; was appointed twice as a High Commissioner; and spent eight years as Director of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, (ASIS).' (Publication summary)
1 The Undiplomatic Diplomat Alan Fewster , 2018 extract biography (Three Duties and Talleyrand’s Dictum : Keith Waller : Portrait of a Working Diplomat)
— Appears in: Inside Story , February 2018;
'Posted to Chungking in 1941, Keith Waller found his allies almost as challenging as the enemy'
1 1 y separately published work icon Three Duties and Talleyrand’s Dictum : Keith Waller : Portrait of a Working Diplomat Alan Fewster , Kew : Australian Scholarly Publishing , 2018 13512444 2018 single work biography

'Keith Waller was a pioneering Australian diplomat.  Arguably the most talented recruit to the infant Department of External Affairs in the mid-1930s, he was a suave and persuasive prosecutor of Australia’s interests, serving every Prime Minister from Lyons to Whitlam with distinction.

'In 1941, Waller was sent to Chungking, where he established one of Australia’s first overseas missions. A youthful indiscretion almost ended his career there, and he returned to Australia under a cloud. Waller redeemed himself, however, winning praise for his difficult role as Secretary to the Australian Delegation to the San Francisco conference that established the United Nations.  Subsequent assignments took Waller to Brazil, Washington and Manila; as Consul General. From London, where he served as a liaison officer, Waller conveyed to Canberra Britain’s anger at its exclusion from the ANZUS Alliance. Later, as Ambassador in Bangkok, Waller sought to breathe life into the moribund South East Asia Treaty Organisation. Most of his diplomatic contemporaries eschewed administration; Waller found he had a talent for it. In the late 1950s, C.M.H. Clark immortalised Waller in print as one of External Affairs’ ‘Men in Black’, a role in which he revelled.

'In 1959, Menzies chose Waller as the avuncular face of a revivified, post-Petrov relationship with the Soviet Union. Waller was one of the architects of Australia’s successful policy of ‘Confrontation’ of Indonesia in the early 1960s, which was later judged one of the Department of External Affairs’ finest hours. Appointed the first ‘professional’ ambassador in Washington, Waller bore the brunt of ministers’ insatiable need to know US thinking on Vietnam policy.  As Secretary from 1970 of a re-named Department of Foreign Affairs, Waller re-organised and modernised operations in Canberra and overseas.'  (Publication summary)

1 2 y separately published work icon The Charles Family's War : A Gripping Story of Twin Brothers during World War II Alan Fewster , Newport : Big Sky Publishing Big Sky Publishing , 2015 9288099 2015 single work biography

'So begins this sweeping true story of a fractured but close-knit Australian family during World War II, focusing on the service of the twins and life on the home front as experienced primarily by their elder sister and mother. When hostilities are declared, Terry joins the Australian Military Forces and is quickly promoted. However, as a militiaman, he is banned from serving overseas. Having watched Edwin join the glamorous RAAF and become a pilot, Terry resigns his commission to follow his twin. Forced to swallow the disappointment of failing to emulate Edwin by winning his wings, Terry becomes a navigator in heavy bombers in the closing stages of the European war.

'Readers are transported from the Charles family home in northern NSW to Canberra, Africa, England, Scotland, the United States, the Subcontinent and Ceylon between 1939 and the end of 1945 as the perspective shifts between the two protagonists.

'Little-known aspects of wartime experience are explored, including the so-called ‘wet canteens’ debate; the international negotiations over the release of interned Allied and Japanese diplomats, and the life of the Raj on the north-west frontier and in India and Ceylon.

'The author’s clever interweaving of primary documents with historical fact gives rare insights into the lives and relationships of the Charles family and creates an authentic snapshot of wartime Australia. The Charles Family’s War is a compassionate and multilayered examination of two intelligent and articulate young men who come of age in the cauldron of global conflict.' (Publication summary)

1 Manning Clark and the Man in Black Alan Fewster , 2015 single work essay
— Appears in: Inside Story , May 2015;

'ASIO’s ambivalence about Manning Clark might not have incited a diplomatic training incident, writes Alan Fewster. But Clark’s response, thinly veiled as fiction, was uncompromising' 

1 Our First Diplomat Alan Fewster , 2009 extract biography (Trusty and Well Beloved : A Life of Keith Officer Australia's First Diplomat)
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 15 August 2009; (p. 6-7)
1 Crying for the Moon Alan Fewster , 2009 extract biography (Trusty and Well Beloved : A Life of Keith Officer Australia's First Diplomat)
— Appears in: Sunday Canberra Times , 16 August 2009; (p. 25)
1 The Diplomatic Bridesmaid Alan Fewster , 2009 extract biography (Trusty and Well Beloved : A Life of Keith Officer Australia's First Diplomat)
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 17 August 2009; (p. 3)
1 2 y separately published work icon Trusty and Well Beloved : A Life of Keith Officer Australia's First Diplomat Alan Fewster , Carlton : Melbourne University Publishing , 2008 Z1614376 2008 single work biography

'Born into colonial wealth and privilege, Sir Keith Officer (1889-1969) was the archetypal Anglo-Australian. Officer served with distinction in the Great War and in British Nigeria before making a significant contribution to Australian conservative politics in the late 1920s.

'On joining the fledgling foreign service, he was Australia's first diplomat, and became his country's most senior representative overseas. For thirty years, at hardship posts and in the gilded salons of the northern hemisphere, the impeccably connected Officer sought to advance Australia's international interests with equal skill and dedication. Urbane, puckish and gregarious, Officer loved pomp and ceremony, yet remained a disciplined, ascetic bachelor, addicted to exercise and cold showers, happiest on his yacht or tramping unshaven through the bush.

'Officer's life and career, from Gallipoli to the Cold War, epitomised the Westminster tradition of apolitical public service, and served as a model for the first generation of Australian diplomats.' (Melbourne University Press website)

1 2 y separately published work icon Capital Correspondent : The Canberra Letters of Edwin Charles 1936-37 Edwin Charles , Alan Fewster (editor), Charnwood : Ginninderra Press , 2002 Z1015288 2002 single work autobiography
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