This short history was compiled by Jean's daughter, Barbara Coe.
Jean Salisbury
(Mavis Jean Nicholson)
5 January 1922 – 15 September 2014
Jean Salisbury was born in Melbourne in 1922 and attended West Preston State School and Coburg High School. In 1939 she began work in the Commonwealth Public Service as stenographer to Sir Frederick Shedden, Secretary of the Department of Defence, including service as a member of the War Cabinet Secretariat until she retired from the Public Service in 1945 to be married.
Staff of the War Cabinet Secretariat formed a close-knit team overseen by Sir Frederick Shedden and the onset of the Second World War made him the most influential and powerful public servant in Australia.
During this period she was Sir Frederick’s personal secretary based at the headquarters of the Department of Defence, Melbourne, and her duties involved considerable travelling between Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane in connection with meetings of the War Cabinet.
Sir Frederick’s duties as Secretary to the War Cabinet required correspondence with the Prime Minister, John Curtin, General Douglas Macarthur and many other war-time Australian figures, as well as with other overseas figures associated with the war.
The work of both the War Cabinet and the Advisory War Council was sustained through six hectic war years by a relatively small number of politicians and advisers. Nine Australian Prime Ministers served on those bodies at one time or another – Hughes, Page, Menzies, Fadden, Curtin, Forde, Chifley, Holt and McEwen.
Jean’s duties during war-time required excessive hours of working overtime, as her services could be required officially at any time, and were not confined to office working hours. It was during this period that she met her husband, Alan Salisbury, who was a senior officer in the War Cabinet Secretariat. The War Cabinet Secretariat was responsible for the recording and administration of the decisions of the War Cabinet and the advisory War Council.
Over its lifetime, the Secretariat supported 355 meetings of the War Cabinet, dealt with 3,998 agenda items and recorded 4,645 minutes. Similarly, for the Advisory War Council, staff attended 174 meetings and dealt with 727 agenda items, recording 1,618 minutes.
Jean and Alan were married in May 1945 and with the rules of the day not allowing married women in the public service, Jean resigned her position. They remained in Melbourne until 1959 when they moved to Canberra with the Department of Defence. Alan was awarded an Imperial Service Order in the New Year Honours in 1969 and he retired in 1971 as first assistant secretary of the Defence Department.
In 1994 Jean and her husband were approached by the Australian Archives Office to provide information about the work and administration of the War Cabinet Secretariat. Jean helped to produce detailed notes for the Archives Office which was subsequently published by that body, appearing in full in the book, Inside the War Cabinet by the historian David Horner.
Another book by David Horner, Defence Supremo – Sir Frederick Shedden and the making of Defence Policy was published in 2000 and again, Jean and Alan were interviewed extensively.
In 1995 Jean and her husband were guests of the government at a function held in the War
Cabinet Room at Victoria Barracks, Melbourne, to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of
John Curtin and the end of the war. This event was attended by the Prime Minister, Mr. Paul Keating, and other government ministers. Shortly afterwards, she and Alan were again guests at an exhibition at Parliament House, Canberra, where there was mounted a considerable display of photographs and documents relating to the war period.
In the middle of 1997 Jean and her husband were approached by officers of the proposed John Curtin Museum which was to be established at the University of Western Australia, to provide information about the part played by John Curtin during the war. A representative of the library came to Canberra to interview them. Jean was able to record a considerable amount of oral history which has been reproduced by the John Curtin Library in Perth.
When in Canberra during the war years, Jean and Alan worshipped here in Canberra at St John's. After moving to Canberra, living in Campbell, Jean and Alan devoted a large part of their time in supporting the parish of St. John, which she continued to do for the rest of her life, being involved with choir, Sunday School, Churchwomen’s Guild of which she was successively Treasurer and President, Scripture teaching and fund-raising. Jean also spent many years on the St John’s Schoolhouse Board of Management. One of her great loves was the position of Administrator of the historic churchyard at St John’s, a position which she held for over 40 years, maintaining a register of the burials which have taken place over the last 170 years. She has had two editions published of the history of the churchyard, detailing the historical record of everyone buried there.
Jean was an authority on the early history of Canberra and conducted regular historical tours of St. John’s Church and churchyard, giving lectures to such bodies as the Heraldry and Genealogical Society of Canberra, the University of the Third Age, the Canberra and District Historical Society and at Old Parliament House.
In the New Year Honours in 1999, Jean was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her work in the War Cabinet Secretariat and at St. John’s.
In 2007 she transcribed 600 pages of the hand-written War Cabinet Notebooks which were produced in book form by the Australian Defence Force Academy and launched during 2007.
Jean died in Canberra on 15 September 2014 after a short illness. She had kept in excellent mental and physical health right to the end.
There is a very interesting oral history interview with Jean, recorded shortly before her death.
In it she refers to Coburg High as a "wonderful school"
http://oralhistories.moadoph.gov.au/jean-salisbury-1922-2014
(Mavis Jean Nicholson)
5 January 1922 – 15 September 2014
Jean Salisbury was born in Melbourne in 1922 and attended West Preston State School and Coburg High School. In 1939 she began work in the Commonwealth Public Service as stenographer to Sir Frederick Shedden, Secretary of the Department of Defence, including service as a member of the War Cabinet Secretariat until she retired from the Public Service in 1945 to be married.
Staff of the War Cabinet Secretariat formed a close-knit team overseen by Sir Frederick Shedden and the onset of the Second World War made him the most influential and powerful public servant in Australia.
During this period she was Sir Frederick’s personal secretary based at the headquarters of the Department of Defence, Melbourne, and her duties involved considerable travelling between Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane in connection with meetings of the War Cabinet.
Sir Frederick’s duties as Secretary to the War Cabinet required correspondence with the Prime Minister, John Curtin, General Douglas Macarthur and many other war-time Australian figures, as well as with other overseas figures associated with the war.
The work of both the War Cabinet and the Advisory War Council was sustained through six hectic war years by a relatively small number of politicians and advisers. Nine Australian Prime Ministers served on those bodies at one time or another – Hughes, Page, Menzies, Fadden, Curtin, Forde, Chifley, Holt and McEwen.
Jean’s duties during war-time required excessive hours of working overtime, as her services could be required officially at any time, and were not confined to office working hours. It was during this period that she met her husband, Alan Salisbury, who was a senior officer in the War Cabinet Secretariat. The War Cabinet Secretariat was responsible for the recording and administration of the decisions of the War Cabinet and the advisory War Council.
Over its lifetime, the Secretariat supported 355 meetings of the War Cabinet, dealt with 3,998 agenda items and recorded 4,645 minutes. Similarly, for the Advisory War Council, staff attended 174 meetings and dealt with 727 agenda items, recording 1,618 minutes.
Jean and Alan were married in May 1945 and with the rules of the day not allowing married women in the public service, Jean resigned her position. They remained in Melbourne until 1959 when they moved to Canberra with the Department of Defence. Alan was awarded an Imperial Service Order in the New Year Honours in 1969 and he retired in 1971 as first assistant secretary of the Defence Department.
In 1994 Jean and her husband were approached by the Australian Archives Office to provide information about the work and administration of the War Cabinet Secretariat. Jean helped to produce detailed notes for the Archives Office which was subsequently published by that body, appearing in full in the book, Inside the War Cabinet by the historian David Horner.
Another book by David Horner, Defence Supremo – Sir Frederick Shedden and the making of Defence Policy was published in 2000 and again, Jean and Alan were interviewed extensively.
In 1995 Jean and her husband were guests of the government at a function held in the War
Cabinet Room at Victoria Barracks, Melbourne, to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of
John Curtin and the end of the war. This event was attended by the Prime Minister, Mr. Paul Keating, and other government ministers. Shortly afterwards, she and Alan were again guests at an exhibition at Parliament House, Canberra, where there was mounted a considerable display of photographs and documents relating to the war period.
In the middle of 1997 Jean and her husband were approached by officers of the proposed John Curtin Museum which was to be established at the University of Western Australia, to provide information about the part played by John Curtin during the war. A representative of the library came to Canberra to interview them. Jean was able to record a considerable amount of oral history which has been reproduced by the John Curtin Library in Perth.
When in Canberra during the war years, Jean and Alan worshipped here in Canberra at St John's. After moving to Canberra, living in Campbell, Jean and Alan devoted a large part of their time in supporting the parish of St. John, which she continued to do for the rest of her life, being involved with choir, Sunday School, Churchwomen’s Guild of which she was successively Treasurer and President, Scripture teaching and fund-raising. Jean also spent many years on the St John’s Schoolhouse Board of Management. One of her great loves was the position of Administrator of the historic churchyard at St John’s, a position which she held for over 40 years, maintaining a register of the burials which have taken place over the last 170 years. She has had two editions published of the history of the churchyard, detailing the historical record of everyone buried there.
Jean was an authority on the early history of Canberra and conducted regular historical tours of St. John’s Church and churchyard, giving lectures to such bodies as the Heraldry and Genealogical Society of Canberra, the University of the Third Age, the Canberra and District Historical Society and at Old Parliament House.
In the New Year Honours in 1999, Jean was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her work in the War Cabinet Secretariat and at St. John’s.
In 2007 she transcribed 600 pages of the hand-written War Cabinet Notebooks which were produced in book form by the Australian Defence Force Academy and launched during 2007.
Jean died in Canberra on 15 September 2014 after a short illness. She had kept in excellent mental and physical health right to the end.
There is a very interesting oral history interview with Jean, recorded shortly before her death.
In it she refers to Coburg High as a "wonderful school"
http://oralhistories.moadoph.gov.au/jean-salisbury-1922-2014