Australian Dictionary of Biography

John Knott

Australian Accountant (June 1972)

Sir John Laurence Knott (1910–1999), public servant, was born on 6 July 1910 at Romsey, Victoria, eldest of five children of Victorian-born parents James Joseph Knott, draper, and his wife Ellen, née Clarke. Known as Jack in his youth, Knott completed his primary schooling at Cobram State School in 1921, and relocated to Melbourne with his family the following year when his father acquired a drapery business at Coburg. His mother died in 1925 and his father in 1928. Too young to care for his younger siblings, Knott moved in with family friends, Clarence and Ethel Milnes, at nearby Brunswick West, while his brothers and sister were taken in elsewhere. Sport was a welcome diversion for the young Knott. A keen middle-distance runner, he was touted as ‘one of the most promising runners in Victoria’ (Sporting Globe 1929, 6). Sporting club administration also gave him opportunities to develop his secretarial skills.

In 1926 had Knott joined the Postmaster-General’s Department in Melbourne as a telegraph messenger. On 22 June 1935 he married the Milnes’s daughter, Victorian-born typist Jean Rose Milnes, at the Baptist Church, Brunswick. She joined him in Canberra where he had taken up a position with the Department of Trade and Customs. He moved steadily up the ranks in the department, including as the private secretary (1936–37) to the minister responsible for directing negotiations for trade treaties, Sir Henry Gullett.

World War II created new opportunities for Knott. As the officer-in-charge of the export supply section within the Department of Supply and Development, in October 1940 he was the secretary to the Australian delegation to the Eastern Group Supply Conference in New Delhi. He was secretary to the Army and Munitions Co-ordination Committee, established in May 1940 under the director-general of munitions, (Sir) Essington Lewis, and in 1944 was appointed secretary/executive officer of the new Commonwealth Secondary Industries Commission, established to advise on the transition to a postwar economy. In that role he moved back to Melbourne with Jean and their two young sons.

During his time at the commission Knott studied at the University of Melbourne (DipCom, 1947) and was admitted as an associate to the Commonwealth Institute of Accountants. His experience and qualifications saw him appointed first assistant director of the industrial development division, Department of Post-war Reconstruction in mid-1948. Shortly after this appointment, he was selected to attend the first postwar course of the Imperial Defence College, London. The experience informed his career trajectory over the next decade. By 1951, as Cold War tensions escalated, he became federal director of Defence Production Planning. In 1957 he was appointed OBE and became secretary of the Department of Defence Production. When the department merged with the Department of Supply in 1959, he became secretary of the expanded department. He was a member of the Australian mission to the United States of America in 1957, seeking closer alignment on defence planning and procurement, and led the Australian mission to conferences of the European Launcher Development Organisation (of which Australia was an associate member) between 1961 and 1968.

In 1966 Knott was appointed deputy high commissioner to the United Kingdom, a position reserved for the Commonwealth’s most senior public servants. With his extensive background in defence, science, and trade, he was well suited to the post during this period of significant shifts in British policy, including the implementation of the Commonwealth Immigrant Act (1962) that for the first time restricted Australians’ options to reside in Britain, Britain’s withdrawal of military bases ‘East of Suez,’ and its renewed application to join the European Economic Community. He was also a member of the committee appointed by Commonwealth prime ministers to report on the operation of the Commonwealth secretariat.

Knott returned to Australia in late 1968 to become director-general of posts and telegraphs after the death of the incumbent, Trevor Housley, in October. The department had a significant profile, with the director-general publicly dealing with concerns about postage costs, industrial unrest, and the financial losses incurred by the postal service. During his tenure the department moved to upgrade and computerise Australia’s telecommunications infrastructure, while local post offices became more customer-oriented operations. Knighted in June 1971, he retired the next year and was appointed AC in 1981.

Since 1970 Knott had been a member of the Melbourne Club, and his skills, experience, and networks were sought after by the corporate world. He served as a director or chairman of several companies, including Equity Trustees, Executors and Agency Co. Ltd, World Airways Inc., Saab-Scania Australia Pty Ltd, and Jennings Industries Ltd. Serving the public remained an abiding passion. Among other commitments, he was chairman of appeals for the Salvation Army and Yooralla, president of the English-Speaking Union (Victoria), and chairman of the Victorian Conservation Trust. In 1989 the Epworth hospital, Richmond, opened its John Knott emergency department in recognition of his services to the hospital’s board.

Business leader Richard Pratt noted Knott’s particular ability ‘to get the measure of something quickly and accurately,’ and regarded him as ‘the apostle of working smarter to ensure that Australia added value to its natural resources (McComas 1999, 16). As his busy professional and associational life allowed, Knott enjoyed gardening and golf. He died in Melbourne on 8 March 1999, survived by his wife, Jean, and their children Roger, Timothy, David, and Andrea. His remains were interred at Fawkner Memorial Park, Hadfield.