NQ DATE
M/ 8 14 December 1972
APPOINTMENT OF DEPUTY HIGH COMMISSIONER, LONDON
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Whitlan, announced today the
appointment as Deputy High Commissioner in London of Mr D. W. McNicol, C. B. E.
Mr McNicol is currently Australian High Commissioner to Canada.
Mr McNicol was born in Adelaide in 1913 and was educated at
YKinrs College and the University of Adelaide. He served in the Royal
Australian Air Force from 19J40 to 1943 and joined the Department of Foreign
Af fairs in 1946.
Mr McNicol is a senior and experienced officer of the Department
of Foreign Affairs. After service in TGkyjo and Washington, he was, during
the period 1953 to 1954, accredited as Australian Minister in Viet-Nam,
Cambodia and Laos. Mr McNicol attended the Imperial Defence College in
London in 1957 and was then appointed Australian Commissioner in
Singapore, where he served from 1957 to 1960. After a period as
Assistant Secretary of the Pacific and Americas Branch in the Department,
he was appointed Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan towards the
end of 1962, an appointment he held for three years. From the end of 1965
until early 1968 he was Australian High Commissioner to New Zealand after
which he served as Australian Ambassador to Thailand. Mr McNicol has
served in his present position as High Commissioner to Canada since
August 1969.
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As Deputy High Commissioner Mr McNicol will succeed Mr W. B. Pritchett,
who has been Acting High Commissioner since the retirement of Sir Alexander
Downer. The Prime Minister recently announced that the new High Commissioner
will be Mr J. I. Armstrong.
Mr McNicol is expected to take up his appointment in London in
April 1973. He is married with one son.