Malcolm Booker

As a young man, Booker served as private secretary to Billy Hughes, the former prime minister. He later became one of Hughes' biographers, publishing The Great Professional: A Study of W.M. Hughes in 1980.[1]

While on posting to Manila as first secretary from 1950 to 1952, Booker met Roxana. The pair became engaged, celebrating their betrothal at a party on the peak in Hong Kong.[1]

From 1952 to 1953, Booker was Chargé d'Affaires in Burma, responsible for establishing the legation.[1][2] He returned to Canberra in April 1953.[3]

In 1962, Booker was appointed Australian Ambassador to Thailand.[4] When he returned to Canberra in 1963, Booker was appointed Deputy Head of the Department of Territories.[5] He soon returned to the external affairs department, taking a position as first assistant secretary, Level 3.[6]

Booker was Australian Ambassador to Italy from 1970 to 1974.[7][8] In March 1974 Booker was appointed the Australian Ambassador to Yugoslavia, with simultaneous appointments as the non-resident Ambassador to Romania and Bulgaria.[9]

Booker's book The Last Domino was published in 1976. The book was critical of several previous Australian foreign affairs ministers and the 1975 Whitlam dismissal.[10][11]

Booker died on 15 July 1998.[1]

• The Last Domino: Aspects of Australia's Foreign Relations. Collins. 1976. ISBN 0002114496.
• Last Quarter: The Next Twenty-five Years in Asia and the Pacific. Melbourne University Press. 1978. ISBN 0522841511.
• The Great Professional: A Study of W.M. Hughes. McGraw-Hill Book Company. 1980. ISBN 0070729360.
• Conflict in the Balkans. Catalyst Press. 1994. ISBN 0646177869.