A seminar with Mr.Colin Milner

This paper draws on a biographical study of the lawyer and public servant Robert Randolph Garran (1867–1957), an influential figure in the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia and the development of its status within the British Empire-Commonwealth. Garran’s ‘public service’, broadly defined, encompassed bureaucratic, cultural, diplomatic and legal dimensions in an emerging framework of national, imperial and international institutions. A man inspired by his settler family background, with antecedents in eighteenth-century colonial Virginia, Garran’s career was remarkable for longevity and impact: from the young barrister active in the ‘popular’ federal movement of the 1890s , as first Secretary of the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department from 1901 and Solicitor-General from 1916, to a busy retirement from 1932 until his death. Some aspects of that career remain controversial: for instance, Garran’s role in the administration of the War Precautions Act involved him in the illiberalism of the First World War domestic scene and its aftermath in Australia. This study offers insights into diverse aspects of Australian nation-building by examining the life of a career bureaucrat whose distinctive vision was shaped by family heritage, the law, culture and ideas. 

Colin Milner is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of History at the Australian National University. He was previously a Commonwealth public servant, during which time he had diplomatic postings in Pretoria, Brussels and Nauru. He holds degrees in Arts and Law from the University of Sydney and is admitted as a Barrister of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. In recent years, he has published history chapters and book reviews, and is also co-editing two volumes on Australia’s administration of Nauru from 1945 until independence in 1968 in the Documents on Australian Foreign Policy series published by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.