Jeremy Hearder

Jeremy Victor Roblin Hearder (born 1936) is an Australian author and historian, and former diplomat and public servant.

Jeremy Hearder
Born	1936 Peshawar, Pakistan
Occupation	Diplomat, public servant, author, historian
Nationality	Australian
Alma mater	University of Melbourne Stanford University

He held several international postings for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, including Laos, Tanzania, Thailand, Kenya, Belgium, Zimbabwe, Fiji, the United States and New Zealand. He was Australia's first High Commissioner to Zimbabwe (1980–84) and is the author of the biography Jim Plim: Ambassador Extraordinary (2015). He also served as the Department's Chief of Protocol.

Life and career

Born in 1936 in Peshawar, India (later Pakistan), Hearder was the son of one of three founders of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, former British army officer Roblin Hearder.^[1] The younger Hearder joined the Department of External Affairs in January 1959.^[2][3]

In 1980, Hearder was appointed the first High Commissioner to Zimbabwe, shortly after Zimbabwe's independence.^[4] Retaining his High Commissioner position, in 1981 Hearder was accredited High Commissioner to Botswana,^[5] and in 1982 he was accredited also as Australia's first Ambassador to Mozambique.^[6] In 1984, after his posting in Harare came to an end, Hearder moved to Suva, Fiji, to take up a second High Commissioner posting.^[3]

Hearder was Consul-General in Chicago from 1988 to 1991, responsible for promoting Australian trade and investment to America's mid-west.^[7][8]

In 2015, Hearder launched his book, Jim Plim: Ambassador Extraordinary, a biography of diplomat James Plimsoll whom Hearder had worked with in the late 1970s in Brussels.^[9][10] Reviewing the book, Philip Flood wrote that Hearder had done justice to Plimsoll's career as a great Australian ambassador.^[11][12]

Works

• Jim Plim: Ambassador Extraordinary: A Biography of Sir James Plimsoll, Connor Court Publishing, 2015, ISBN 9781925138498

References

1. Flitton, Daniel (20 July 2012). "Lifting the cloak on spies like us". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 11 June 2016.
2. Hearder, Jeremy (26 November 2009). "Fulbright scholars oral history project" (Interview). Interviewed by Alice Garner.
3. "New envoy to Fiji". The Canberra Times. 1 May 1984. p. 3.
4. Department of Foreign Affairs (21 April 1980). "High Commissioner in Zimbabwe" (Press release). Archived from the original on 11 June 2016.
5. "Botswana status". The Canberra Times. 14 August 1981. p. 3.
6. "Mozambique". The Canberra Times. 10 June 1982. p. 14.
7. CA 8034: Australian Consulate-General, Chicago [United States of America], National Archives of Australia, retrieved 11 June 2016
8. "New consul-general". The Canberra Times. 26 May 1988. p. 3.
9. Hobart Launch of Jeremy Hearder's 'Jim Plim Ambassador Extraordinary: A biography of Sir James Plimsoll', Australian Institute of International Affairs, 29 May 2015, archived from the original on 4 April 2016
10. Switzer, Tom (6 August 2015). "The lessons of a distinguished diplomatic career". Australian Broadcasting Commission. Archived from the original on 11 June 2016.
11. Flood, Philip (15 May 2015). "Book review: Jim Plim - Ambassador Extraordinary". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 11 June 2016.
12. Varghese, Peter (14 April 2015). “Jim Plim”: Ambassador Extraordinary book launch (Speech). Archived from the original on 14 August 2015.

Diplomatic posts
New title Post established	Australian High Commissioner to Zimbabwe 1980–1984	Succeeded by Alan Edwards
Preceded by K.R. Douglas-Scott	Australian High Commissioner to Botswana 1981–1984
New title Post established	Australian Ambassador to Mozambique 1982–1984
Preceded by Colin McDonald	Australian High Commissioner to Fiji 1984–1986	Succeeded by John Piper
Preceded by Terry McCarthy	Australian Consul-General in Chicago 1988–1990	Succeeded by K.I. Gates