Intelligencer

The Secret World of Walter Cawthorn, Australian Spymaster

By Alan Fewster

Published by Australian Scholarly Publishing
RRP $49.95 in paperback * ISBN 9781923267053

Walter Joseph (Bill) Cawthorn, who rose to become head of the Australian Security Intelligence Service (ASIS) in 1960 at Prime Minister Robert Menzies personal request, did so from an unpromising start to life in rural Victoria.

Born in 1896 the second of six children, his family struggled financially. It was only his cleverness at winning a scholarship that allowed him to continue his education. He trained as a teacher in Melbourne but his teaching career was short-lived. War intervened.

He served at Gallipoli before joining the British Indian Army on the Western Front. From there he went on to serve in the Pakistan Army until 1950, at which point, at the age of fifty-three, he faced the end of his career.

Faced with diminishing prospects on the sub-continent, he and his wife opted to return to Australia and an uncertain future, with his special brand of expertise in ‘politico-diplomatic’ work not required in the Australian army of the day.

A mere four years later he was to return to Pakistan as Australia’s High Commissioner. He was warmly welcomed on his return.

Later he was appointed High Commissioner to Canada but recalled under the excuse of failing health to head the Australian Security Intelligence Service (ASIS).

Buried in the text are interesting snippets illuminating the personalities, prejudices and deceptions of the times.

Cawthorn did not like Arthur Tange, later secretary of the Department of Defence, whom he described as a ‘bully and a sadist’. Funding for ASIS was hidden from public view by inflating votes in the Defence budget.

From inauspicious beginnings, his career spanned a remarkable arc. From being credited with setting up the structure for Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence bureau, his role being described as that of a  ‘midwife’, to twice being appointed as a High Commissioner representing Australia and, then in his final appointment as Director of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, (ASIS).

He retired in 1968 and died in 1970 at the age of 74.

VERDICT: An interesting book that traverses a career the likes of which it is hard to imagine in modern times.