Herbert Cole Coombs (24 February 1906 - 29 October 1997), referred to in his professional life as Dr. H. C. Coombs but commonly known as "Nugget" Coombs, Australian economist and public servant, was born born near Perth, Western Australia, one of six children of a railway station-master. He was educated at the Perth Modern School (where Bob Hawke was also educated), the University of Western Australia and the London School of Economics, where he obtained his doctorate in economics in 1933 for his thesis on central banking. While at the London School of Economics he studied under Professor Harold Laski, one of the most influential Marxists of the 20th century. In December 1931 he married Mary Ross. February 24 is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1906 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... October 29 is the 302nd day of the year (303rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 63 days remaining. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... An economist is someone who studies Economics. ... A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy, usually within an institution of the government. ... For other cities named Perth, see Perth. ... Motto: Cygnis Insignis (Distinguished by its swans) Nickname: Wildflower State Other Australian states and territories Capital Perth Government Governor Premier Const. ... Hon Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (born December 9, 1929), Australian trade union leader and politician, was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia. ... The University of Western Australia (UWA) is Western Australias oldest university, established in February 1911. ... The London School of Economics and Political Science, often referred to as the London School of Economics or the LSE, is a specialist university based in London, often regarded as the worlds most prestigious social science institutions. ... 1933 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Harold Joseph Laski (June 30, 1893, Manchester, England - March 24, 1950, London, England) was an English political scientist, economist, author, and lecturer, and served as the 1945-1946 chairman of the Labour Party. ... Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century German philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... 1931 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

Coombs's political and economic views were formed by the Great Depression, which hit Australia in 1929 and caused a complete economic collapse in a country totally dependent on commodity exports for its prosperity. As a student in Perth he was a socialist, but in London he became converted to the economic views of John Maynard Keynes, and he spent the rest of his career pursuing Keynesian solutions to Australia's economic problems. He never sought public office or joined a political party, but sought to exercise political influence from within as an administrator and advisor. The Great Depression was a massive global economic recession (or depression) that ran from 1929 to 1941. ... 1929 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... For information on mainstream political parties using the term Socialist, see Social democracy and Democratic socialism,For the governments of the USSR, the PRC, and others, see: Communist state, Other variants of Socialism include Marxism, Communism, and Libertarian Socialism. ... John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes of Tilton (pronounced Kaynes) (June 5, 1883 – April 21, 1946) was an English economist, whose radical ideas had a major impact on modern economic and political theory as well as Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal. ...

Public service

In 1934 Coombs returned to Australia and in 1935 became an economist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, then a state-owned bank which served as Australia's central bank. In 1939 he shifted to the Department of the Treasury in Canberra as a senior economist. He became known as a Keynesian rebel against the classical economic theory which dominated the Treasury, under the influence of the Melbourne University school of economists led by L.F. Giblin and Douglas Copland. 1934 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1935 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Commonwealth Bank is the second largest bank in Australia, after National Australia Bank. ... 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Two of Canberras best-known landmarks, Parliament House and (foreground) Old Parliament House. ... Classical economics is a school of economic thought whose major developers include William Petty, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Thomas Malthus, and John Stuart Mill. ... The University of Melbourne, located in Melbourne, in Victoria, is the second oldest university in Australia (the University of Sydney is the oldest). ...

The Australian Labor Party under John Curtin came to power in 1941, and Coombs found himself in a political environment much more supportive of his views. Curtin appointed him to the Commonwealth Bank board in October 1941. In 1942 the Treasurer, Ben Chifley, appointed him Director of Rationing, and in 1943 made him Director-General of the Department of Post-war Reconstruction, a new ministry which Chifley held in addition to the Treasury. The Australian Labor Party or ALP is Australias oldest political party. ... Rt Hon John Curtin John Curtin (January 8, 1885 – July 5, 1945), Australian politician and 14th Prime Minister of Australia, led Australia through the darkest period of its history: when the Australian mainland came under direct military threat during the Japanese advance in World War II. Many Australians regard him... 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1942 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Rt Hon Ben Chifley Joseph Benedict Chifley is gay (September 22, 1885 - June 13, 1951), Australian politician and 16th Prime Minister of Australia, was one of Australias most influential Prime Ministers. ... 1943 is a common year starting on Friday. ...

Chifley, a former train driver, had no training in economics and came to rely heavily on Coombs's advice. Coombs's closeness to Chifley, and the greatly expanded role of government in the economy during World War II, made him one of the most powerful public servants in Australian history. His influence grew even greater when Chifley became Prime Minister in 1945. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... 1945 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...

In January 1949 Chifley appointed Coombs Governor of the Commonwealth Bank, the most important post in the regulation of the Australian economy. When the Liberal Party came to power in December of that year, however, Coombs's demise seemed likely, but the new Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, kept him on and soon came to trust his judgement. Menzies was a moderate Keynesian and there were few policy differences between the two men, especially since Australia soon embarked on a long postwar boom and there were few tough economic decisions to be made. 1949 is a common year starting on Saturday. ... The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian liberal conservative political party. ... Rt Hon Robert Menzies Sir Robert Gordon Menzies (20 December 1894 – 14 May 1978), Australian politician, was the twelfth and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia serving eighteen and a half years. ...

In 1960, when the Reserve Bank of Australia was created to take over the Commonwealth Bank's central banking functions, Coombs was appointed Governor of the Reserve Bank. He retired as a public servant in 1968. 1960 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Reserve Bank of Australia in Martin Pl. ... 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ...

Later life

Coombs' continued to work following his retirement. He had already signalled his interest in the arts by becoming the first chairman of the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1954 (named in honour of Elizabeth II, not because it promoted Elizabethan theatre). In 1967 he persuaded Prime Minister Harold Holt to legislate to create the Australian Council for the Arts (now the Australia Council) as a body for the public funding of the arts, and in 1968 he became its chairman. He worked closely with Prime Minister John Gorton to secure funding for an Australian film industry. He also became Chancellor of the Australian National University, which he had helped found in 1946. 1954 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor), styled HM The Queen ( born 21 April 1926) is the queen regnant and head of state of Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent... Elizabethan theatre is a general term covering the plays written and performed publicly in England during the reign (1558 - 1603) of Queen Elizabeth I. The term can be used more broadly to also include theatre of Elizabeths immediate successors, James I and Charles I, until the closure of public... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Rt Hon Harold Holt Harold Edward Holt (August 5, 1908 - presumed dead December 19, 1967) was an Australian politician and the 17th Prime Minister of Australia, now best remembered for the bizarre circumstances of his death. ... 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Rt Hon John Gorton Sir John Grey Gorton (September 9, 1911 - May 19, 2002), Australian politician and the 19th Prime Minister of Australia, was born in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of an orchardist from Kerang, and educated at a prestigious private school and at Oxford University, where he completed an... The Australian National University (ANU), is a university located in Canberra, the national capital of Australia. ... 1946 was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

Coombs's most important post-retirement role was as a supporter of the Australian Aboriginal people. In 1968 he bcame chairman of the Australian Council for Aboriginal Affairs, set up in the wake of the 1967 referendum which gave the Commonwealth Parliament power to legislate specifically for the Aboriginal people. He was, however, disappointed that the Gorton and McMahon governments took up few of the Council's recommendations. He became a close advisor to the Labor leader Gough Whitlam in the years before Whitlam became Prime Minister in 1972, and largely wrote Labor's policy on Aboriginal affairs, particularly the commitment to Aboriginal land rights. In 1972 he was named Australian of the Year. Australian Aborigines are the main indigenous people of Australia. ... 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A referendum (plural: referendums or referenda) or plebiscite is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. ... Rt Hon William McMahon Sir William McMahon (February 23, 1908 – March 31, 1988), Australian politician and 20th Prime Minister of Australia, was born in Sydney, New South Wales, where his father was a lawyer. ... Honourable Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (born July 11, 1916), Australian politician and 21st Prime Minister of Australia, was the only Australian Prime Minister to be dismissed by the Governor-General. ... 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... The Australian of the Year Awards commenced in 1960. ...

From 1972 to 1975 Coombs served as a consultant to Prime Minister Whitlam, but his influence was resented by other ministers and he found the experience of the first Labor government since 1949 disappointing. He disapproved of the events which led up to the Loans Affair of 1975 and the dismissal of Whitlam's government by the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr. He advised Whitlam not to resort to unorthodox means of financing government operations when the Senate blocked supply, but Whitlam ignored his advice. Although he regarded the dismissal as scandalous, his estrangement from Whitlam meant that he took little subsequent part in politics. In 1975 he was chairman of a Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration, whose report was largely ignored by the incoming Liberal government of Malcolm Fraser. 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... 1949 is a common year starting on Saturday. ... 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... Flag of the Governor General of Australia The Governor-General of Australia is a position established by the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act to sign legislation into law, appoint judges and ministers and perform many other important duties. ... Sir John Kerr Sir John Robert Kerr, born (October 8, 1987, currently attends Bayside Secondary School in Bayside,Ontario, Canada. ... 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... Rt Hon Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser (born May 21, 1930), Australian politician and 22nd Prime Minister of Australia, came to power in the circumstances of the dismissal of the Whitlam government. ...

In 1976 Coombs resigned all his posts and became a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies at the Australian National University, where he developed a new interest in environmental issues. But Aboriginal affairs remained his greatest passion, and in 1979 he launched the Aboriginal Treaty Committee, calling for a formal treaty between Australia and the Aboriginal people. The idea gained much public support, but neither the Fraser government nor its successor, Bob Hawke's Labor government, took it up. He deplored the breakdown of the postwar Keynesian economic consensus represented by Thatcherism, and in his 1990 book The Return of Scarcity he proposed a Common Wealth Estate to ensure a more equitable distribution of wealth. He died in Sydney in 1997. 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1979 is a common year starting on Monday. ... Hon Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (born December 9, 1929), Australian trade union leader and politician, was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia. ... The Right Honourable Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925) is a British stateswoman and was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, the only woman as of 2005 to serve in that position. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sydney Harbour looking south from the vicinity of the Sydney Harbour Bridge towards the CBD skyline; the Opera House is visible in the background on the left. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Under the Howard government, the "Coombs legacy" in Aboriginal affairs came under increasing criticism from ideological conservatives. They argued that the communal land ownership implicit in Aboriginal land rights was keeping Aboriginal people poor and dependent on welfare by preventing the private ownership of land. John Howard John Winston Howard (born July 26, 1939), is an Australian politician and the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, coming to office on March 11, 1996 and winning re-election in 1998, 2001 and 2004. ...

Further reading

• H. C. Coombs, Trial Balance, MacMillan 1981
• Tim Rowse, Nugget Coombs: a Reforming Life, Cambridge University Press, 2002
• Tim Rowse, Obliged to be Difficult: Nugget Coombs' Legacy in Indigenous Affairs, Cambridge University Press, 2000

External links

• Reserve Bank of Australia official website (http://www.rba.gov.au)
• Commonwealth Bank official website (http://www.cba.com.au)
• Professor Helen Hughes on the "Coombs experiment" (http://www.cis.org.au/exechigh/Eh2005/EH26105.htm)

Sources

• Unknown (5 November 1971), Prime Minister MacMahon turns to old fabian master (http://www.alor.org/Volume7/Vol7No42.htm), The Australian League of Rights
• A.S. Podger (24 September 2003), Trends in the Australian Public Service: 1953-2003 (http://www.apsc.gov.au/media/podger240903.htm), Australian Public Service Commission
• Gough Whitlam (14 November 1997), Nugget Coombs (http://www.whitlam.org/collection/1997/19971114_nugget_coombs/), The Whitlam Institute

Honourable Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (born July 11, 1916), Australian politician and 21st Prime Minister of Australia, was the only Australian Prime Minister to be dismissed by the Governor-General. ...

Howard Walter Florey, Baron Florey (September 24, 1898 – February 21, 1968) was a pharmacologist who shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Ernst Boris Chain and Sir Alexander Fleming for his role in the extraction of penicillin. ...