Department of External Territories (1968–73)

Department of External Territories
Department overview
Formed	20 February 1968[1]
Preceding Department	Department of Territories (I);
Dissolved	30 November 1973[1]
Superseding agency	Department of Foreign Affairs - for residual responsibilities relating to Papua New Guinea;
Jurisdiction	Commonwealth of Australia
Headquarters	Canberra
Ministers responsible	Charles Barnes, Minister (1968‑72); Andrew Peacock, Minister (1972); Gough Whitlam, Minister (1972); Bill Morrison, Minister (1972‑73);
Department executives	George Warwick Smith, Secretary (1968‑70); David Hay, Secretary (1970‑73);

The Department of External Territories was an Australian government department that existed between February 1968 and November 1973. It was the second Australian Government department to be given the name.

History and scope

The Department of External Territories was established by the Gorton Government in 1968, formed from the portions of the old Department of Territories (I) that dealt with Papua New Guinea and Australia's smaller external territories and hiving off the portions of the department that dealt with Northern Territory.[2]

According to the Administrative Arrangements Order made on 20 December 1972, the Department dealt with matters related to the Territory of Papua, the Territory of New Guinea, the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands and the Territory of Christmas Island.[3]

Structure

The Department was an Australian Public Service department, staffed by officials who were responsible to the Minister for External Territories.[1]

gollark: "Moral reason" meaning what?

gollark: ... why?

gollark: Personally, I think traditions are bad, unless they're good.

gollark: Compromise solution: every year we elect a random penguin which owns America but is not allowed to exercise this power in any way.

gollark: The number is from Wikipedia, which says that 600000 of those are people who are already there and who are granted legal status.

References

CA 1284: Department of External Territories [II], Central Office, National Archives of Australia, retrieved 9 December 2013
"Problems of a new broom in Canberra". The Canberra Times. 28 February 1968. p. 2.
Administrative Arrangements Order issued 20 December 1972 (PDF), National Archives of Australia, 20 December 1972, p. 3, archived from the original (PDF) on 26 April 2013

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[NAA_CA_1284-1] CA 1284: Department of External Territories [II], Central Office, National Archives of Australia, retrieved 9 December 2013

[2] "Problems of a new broom in Canberra". The Canberra Times. 28 February 1968. p. 2.

[AAODec1972-3] Administrative Arrangements Order issued 20 December 1972 (PDF), National Archives of Australia, 20 December 1972, p. 3, archived from the original (PDF) on 26 April 2013