Roden Cutler - Diplomatic and Vice-regal Career

Diplomatic and Vice-regal Career

Following the war, Cutler began a long career in the Australian diplomatic service. At the age of 29 he was appointed High Commissioner to New Zealand (1946–1952). Other postings within the Commonwealth followed; he served in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) (1952–1955) and was the Australian Minister in Egypt during the Suez Crisis in 1956. As a result of his service in Egypt, Cutler was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1957 New Year's Honours.

Cutler acted as Secretary-General of the South-East Asia Council of Ministers meeting in Canberra in January 1957 and became Chief of Protocol of the Department of External Affairs (1957–58). Cutler was also State President of the RSL in 1958. He was Australian High Commissioner in Pakistan, (1958–1961), and Australian Consul-General in New York, (1961–1965), during which period he was the Australian delegate to the United Nations General Assembly in 1962, 1963 and 1964 and was the Australian Representative to independence of the Republic of Somalia in 1960.

For his diplomatic services to Australia, he was honoured by The Queen as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in December 1965. He was further honoured as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in 1970. He was appointed a Knight of the Order of Australia (AK) in 1981.

His final diplomatic posting, in 1965, as Ambassador to The Netherlands, was cut short in 1966 when he returned home as Governor of New South Wales, an office that he served for a record 15 years, through four Premiers, and a change of government after eleven years of conservative rule. Such was his popularity that the Labor Premier, Neville Wran, extended his last term until 1981.

In 1975, his advice to the then Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, that he should warn Prime Minister Gough Whitlam of his impending dismissal, was ignored. As the longest-serving state governor, Cutler occasionally acted as Administrator of the Commonwealth of Australia in the absence of the governor-general. He acted as administrator during Kerr's term from 20 February-13 March 1975, 12–24 May 1975, 16–17 September 1975, 23 December 1975 – 3 February 1976, 26 April – 14 June 1977 and finally 23–28 August 1977.