Robert Anderson ( Australian general ) Brigadier General Sir Robert Murray McCheyne Anderson KCMG , CMG ( 6 August 1865 – 30 December 1940 ) was a successful Sydney businessman . He also served in the Australian Army in World War I , finishing the war as a Brigadier General . Early life and business career . Anderson was born on 6 August 1865 in The Mint , Sydney , the son of a policeman . After attending Sydney Grammar School , he worked at the Bank of New Zealand . Initially working in New Zealand , he was made manager of a branch of the bank upon his return to Sydney . Anderson was a member of the militia , having been commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1886 . He was later promoted to lieutenant in 1891 . However , the day after being promoted to captain in April 1894 , he resigned his commission although remained in the reserves . Anderson later worked in local government from 1897 to 1900 , firstly as Sydney ' s treasurer and then as town clerk . He then turned his hand to commerce and entered partnership in Allen Taylor & Co . Ltd , a timber and shipping merchant . Successful in this endeavour , he was later a royal commissioner on the sugar industry . World War I . In 1915 , Anderson provided advice on the re - organisation of the paymaster ' s branch of the Defence Department , struggling to cope with the expansion of the military as a result of the war , and which was subsequently implemented by the Minister of Defence , George Pearce . He also reported on the management of certain government departments . Late that year , Anderson was appointed deputy quartermaster general of the Australian Imperial Force ( AIF ) , then based in Egypt . Brought in to implement business practices to the organisation of AIF logistics , he was made a colonel and successfully improved supply arrangements and established rest camps for soldiers on leave . When the AIF shifted to the Western Front in 1916 , he relocated to London as commander of the Australian Administrative Headquarters . Within a few months , he had re - negotiated the supply and accounting arrangements then in place with the War Office for maintaining and supplying the AIF . Anderson ' s work in this capacity was such that by the end of the year , he had been promoted to brigadier general and recommended for appointment to the Order of St Michael and St George by the AIF commander , William Birdwood . His award was duly gazetted in January 1917 , and within a few months , he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George . His work in London completed , Anderson returned to Australia in late 1917 , with stops in Egypt and France . In 1918 , he chaired a commission in New Zealand on defense department expenditure . Later life . After the war , Anderson advised the New South Wales government in relation to financial and commercial matters . He was also an advisor to the Commonwealth treasury . He gradually became an important part of the business community in Sydney , becoming involved as a chairman or director in a number of businesses . His wife , Jean , whom he married in 1891 , gradually became seriously ill and died in December 1928 . Anderson himself died at his home on 30 December 1940 , survived by seven children .