Waiting 'Round the Bend

Howard Debenham was raised in Queanbeyan and Canberra. Joining the still fledgling Department of External Affairs in 1961, his career in Australia's Foreign Service took him through eleven overseas postings in nine countries - India twice, South Korea, Japan twice, Israel, Italy, Yugoslavia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the USA. He became a member of the Senior Executive of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Consul-General in Bangkok and Tokyo, Minister/Counsellor and Consul-General in Washington DC, and High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. From a rich enough bush heritage and a sometimes testing childhood in hometown Australia, the river of his working life rounded many bends and delivered experiences which ranged widely from dangerous and ugly to exhilarating, humbling and humorous. His recollections provide a candid, refreshing and at times irreverent insight into life in Australia's Foreign Service