NQ DATE
12 June 1973
AP OINTMENT OF AUSTRALIAN ACEOWN SUL-GENERAL YORK
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Whitlan,
announced today that General Sir John Wilton, C. B.,
iD. S. O., had been appointed Australian Consul-General in
New York. Sir John Wilton will succeed Sir John Bates, C. B. E.,
Swho will complete a three year term in August of this year.
Mr Whitlam said that Sir John Wilton had had a
distinguished military career, having risen to become Chairman
of the Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1966-1970. Mr Whitlam
said that he believed that Sir John would bring distinction
to the position of Consul-General in New York at a time when
Australia was developing its contacts with the United States
Sin commercial and in other fields. He would thus be carrying
on t" o'e valuable work which Sir John Bates had been doing for
tbe past three years.
Sir John Wilton was born in 1910 and was educated
at Grafton High School and at the Royal Military College,
Duntroon, from which he graduated in 1930. From 1930-1939
Sir John served with the British Army in India and in Burma.
During World War II he served in the Middle East and in the / 2
-2-
South Pacific Area. In 1944 Sir John was appointed General Staff
Officer with the Military Mission in Washington. Later he served
as Commander of the 28th Commonwealth Brigade in Korea where he
was awarded the United States Legion of Merit.
Sir John Wilton was Commandant of the Royal Military
College, Duntroon, from 1957 to 1960 and for three years from
1960 was Chief of the S. E. A. T. O. Military Planning Office. In
1963 he was appointed Chief of the Australian General Staff.
From 1966 to 1970 he served as Chairman of the Chiefs of
Staff Committee and was Dromoted to the rank of General in 1968.
It is expected that Sir John and Lady Wilton will
arrive in New York early in September.