Evatt, Herbert Vere (Bert)

Entry type: Person

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Herbert Vere (Bert) Evatt was a politician and judge. Evatt was a Justice of the High Court (1929-40) before entering parliament. In 1934 he ruled against the exclusion of Czech communist Egon Kisch from Australia. Elected to the House of Representatives, Evatt was the Labor Party member for Barton (1940-58) and Hunter (1958-60). He was Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs (1941-49) during the Curtin, Forde and Chifley governments. He was Australian delegate to the conference founding the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945 and president of the General Assembly from 1948 to 1949. He was first president of Australia’s Atomic Energy Commission in 1946. Evatt was Leader of the opposition from 1951 to 1960. He appeared as counsel before the Royal Commission on Espionage in 1954 following the defection of Vladimir Petrov. In 1956 he opposed Menzies’ role in support of Britain and France during the Suez crisis. Evatt returned to the bench as Chief Justice of New South Wales from 1960 to 1962.

Source

Bolton, G.C. Evatt, Herbert Vere (Bert) (1894-1965), Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Published in hard copy 1996, accessed online 23 September 2012.

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