Australian Dictionary of Biography

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Life Summary

Name	Herbert Cole Coombs
Born	24 February, 1906 Kalamunda, Western Australia, Australia
Died	29 October, 1997 (aged 91) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Cultural Heritage	English Irish Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity.
Related Entries	[View as tree] Hasluck, Paul Meernaa (friend) Woolley, Richard Van Der Riet (friend) Hasluck, Alexandra Margaret (friend) Fitzgerald, Thomas Michael (friend) Wilson, Roland (work colleague) Crawford, John Grenfell (work colleague) Phillips, John Grant (work colleague) Wheeler, Frederick Henry (work colleague) Yeend, Geoffrey John (work colleague) Wilenski, Peter Stephen (work colleague) Chifley, Joseph Benedict (colleague) Potter, William Ian (colleague) Harris, William Stewart (colleague) Oliphant, Marcus Laurence Elwin (acquaintance) Stead, Christina Ellen (acquaintance) Lorenz, Clarice Maude (acquaintance) Manning Ward, Barbara Berrima (acquaintance) Mabo, Edward Koiki (acquaintance) McMeekin, Ivan Junior (related entry)
Education *	Perth Modern School (student, 1918-1923) Claremont Teachers College (Perth) (student, 1925-1926) University of Western Australia (student, 1927-1930) London School of Economics (student, 1931-1933)
Occupation *	schoolteacher (1925-1930) Western Australia, Australia economist (1934-1968) Federal, Australia public servant (1934-1968) Federal, Australia public service head (1943-1968) Federal, Australia central banker (1949-1968) Federal, Australia Indigenous rights activist/supporter (1968-1997) Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Awards	Australian of the Year (recipient, 1972)
Key Events *	Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration (chairman, 1975)
Groups *	Seven Dwarfs ('dwarf')
Legacies *	Coombs (suburb, ACT) (eponym) Coombs Building (ANU) (eponym) H. C. Coombs Creative Arts Fellowship (ANU) (eponym) H. C. Coombs Creative Arts Indigenous Fellowship (ANU) (eponym)
Key Organisations *	Australian National University (administration) (council member, 1946-1952) Commonwealth Bank of Australia (board chair, 1951) Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust (chair, 1954-1967) Australian National University (administration) (pro-chancellor, 1959-1968) Australian National University (administration) (chancellor, 1968-1976) Australian Conservation Foundation (president, 1977) Aboriginal Treaty Committee (committee member, 1979-1983)
Workplaces *	Commonwealth Bank of Australia (economist, 1935-1939) Treasury (federal) (senior economist, 1939-1943) Dept Postwar Reconstruction (departmental head, 1943-1949) Commonwealth Bank of Australia (governor, 1949-1960) Reserve Bank (governor, 1960-1968) Australian Council for Aboriginal Affairs (chair, 1968-1976) Australian Council for the Arts (chair, 1968-1974) Australian National University (environmental studies) (visiting fellow, 1976-1995) Australian National University (North Australian Research Unit) (visiting fellow, 1976-1995)

* Dates are approximate