page_title: Richard Casey, Baron Casey
section_title: Governor-General
hierarchical_section_title: Richard Casey, Baron Casey / Governor-General
caption_attribution_description: English: Cecil Beaton Photographs- Political and Military Personalities Political Personalities: Mr R G Casey, the Australian diplomat who became Governor of Bengal, seated on a sofa at Government House, Calcutta, India.
context_page_description: Richard Gavin Gardiner Casey, Baron Casey KG, GCMG, CH, DSO, MC, PC was an Australian statesman who served as the 16th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1965 to 1969. He was also a distinguished army officer, long-serving cabinet minister, Ambassador to the United States, member of Churchill's War Cabinet, and Governor of Bengal.
  Casey was born in Brisbane, but moved to Melbourne when he was young. He studied engineering at the University of Melbourne and then went on to Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1914, Casey enlisted as a lieutenant in the Australian Imperial Force. He saw service in the Gallipoli Campaign and on the Western Front, reaching the rank of major and winning the Distinguished Service Order and the Military Cross before becoming a Chief Intelligence Officer in 1920. Casey joined the Australian public service in 1924 to work at Whitehall as a liaison officer with the British administration. He reported directly to the prime minister, Stanley Bruce, with whom he developed a close relationship.
  In 1931, Casey was elected to federal parliament for the United Australia Party.
context_section_description: In 1965 the Queen, on Menzies' recommendation, appointed Lord Casey Governor-General to succeed Lord De L'Isle. This was the first time a non-Labor prime minister had recommended an Australian for the post, but it also marked the end of the appointment of non-Australians to the office of Governor-General. He was initially reluctant to accept the post, but when he did accept, he asked for a two-year appointment instead of the usual five years, subject to extension should he wish to continue. In the event, he served for three and a half years.
  According to William McMahon, Prime Minister Harold Holt (Menzies' successor) considered having Casey dismissed from the governor-generalship, and went as far as to have the necessary documents drawn up. This was because Casey had twice called McMahon into Yarralumla to give him a "dressing down" over his poor relationship with Deputy Prime Minister John McEwen, which he believed was affecting the government. Holt agreed with McMahon that this was an improper intervention in the political process, but no further action was taken.
  In April 1967, during the Wave Hill walk-off, the Gurindji strikers drafted a petition to Casey, asking for a lease of 1,300 km² (500 sq mi) around Daguragu, to be run cooperatively by the Gurundji as a mining and cattle lease. The petition said "We feel that morally the land is ours and should be returned to us". However, in June 1967 Casey refused the lease.
  One of the arguments against appointing an Australian, particularly a former politician, had always been that they would be too closely involved with Australian personalities and issues to perform their constitutional role impartially. This became an acute issue for Casey in December 1967, when Holt disappeared, presumed drowned.
  Casey could have commissioned McMahon, the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, as acting Prime Minister or Caretaker prime minister, but instead he appointed John McEwen, the leader of Liberals' coalition partner, the Country Party. In this he was following a precedent set in 1939, when Sir Earle Page was appointed Prime Minister following the death of Joseph Lyons. But it was later alleged that Casey appointed McEwen to prevent McMahon having an advantage in the Liberal Party's ballot for a new leader, since he shared the view of some Liberals that McMahon would not be a suitable successor. This matter was aired in a 1969 book, The Power Struggle, by veteran political journalist Alan Reid. Casey's biographer, W.J. Hudson says (in his 1986 book Casey) that Casey was concerned to preserve the Liberal-Country Party coalition, and that he knew (because McEwen had told him) that the Country Party would not serve under McMahon. (McEwen publicly confirmed his party's position on McMahon the day after his swearing-in.) If this was his motive for commissioning McEwen rather than McMahon, it suggests that he did take political considerations into account in making his decision. On the other hand, if the coalition were to disband, there would have been no party that could command a majority in the parliament and it could well have become unworkable.
  Casey's Official Secretary throughout his term was Murray Tyrrell, who was knighted in 1968.
  Casey left office in 1969 and he and his wife retired to their farm at Berwick in Victoria. Casey never fully recovered from a car accident in 1974, and died on 17 June 1976 at St Vincent's Hospital, Fitzroy, survived by his wife, daughter and son. He is buried in Mount Macedon cemetery.
caption: Baron Casey at Government House, Calcutta, during World War II
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