Richard Broinowski
{{Short description|Australian diplomat and writer}}
{{Use Australian English|date=January 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Richard Broinowski AO
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1940|5|8}}
| birth_place = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Public servant, diplomat
| years_active =
| website =
| parents =
| alma_mater = University of Adelaide (LLB)
Harvard Kennedy School (MPA)
| spouse = {{marriage|Alison Broinowski|1963}}
| nationality = Australian
| children = Anna Broinowski
Adam Broinowski
}}
Richard Philip Broinowski (born 8 May 1940) is a former Australian public servant and diplomat. He worked in Mexico, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines, Iran and Burma, including as Ambassador to Mexico, Ambassador to Vietnam, and Ambassador to South Korea.
Life and career
Born in Melbourne, Victoria in May 1940, Broinowski was the grandson of Robert Broinowski, a public servant and author about whom the younger wrote a biography: A Witness to History (published 2001).,{{citation|url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3562909|title=Richard Broinowski interviewed by Sara Dowse|date=18 August 2005|accessdate=14 January 2017}} and a great-grandson of Gracius Broinowski, an artist and ornithologist.
Obtaining his Bachelor of Laws from the University of Adelaide in 1961, Broinowski was admitted to the South Australian Supreme Court Bar in Adelaide in 1963. Later in 1963, Broinowski joined the Department of External Affairs as a junior diplomat and began studying Japanese at the Australian National University.{{citation|url=http://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/nsw/about-us/our-people/|title=Our People: NSW Executive & Council 2016|publisher=Australian Institute of International Affairs|accessdate=14 January 2017|url-status=live|archivedate=25 April 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425061855/http://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/nsw/about-us/our-people/}} His early postings were to Tokyo, Rangoon, Tehran and Manila.{{citation|url=https://theconversation.com/profiles/richard-broinowski-4032|title=Richard Broinowski|website=The Conversation|accessdate=14 January 2017|url-status=live|archivedate=12 September 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912114543/https://theconversation.com/profiles/richard-broinowski-4032}} In 1975, when sent to Manila, he and his wife Alison Broinowski, whom he had married in 1963, became the first husband and wife the department had sent to serve in the same mission.{{cite news|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110572663|title=Marriage and the diplomatic service|date=5 August 1979|page=7|newspaper=The Canberra Times|first=Lyn|last=Drummond}}
Broinowski was appointed to his first ambassadorial role in 1983, as Australian Ambassador to Vietnam. His appointment in Hanoi was for two years, during a time when the Australian Government wished to restore normal bilateral relations with Vietnam in the post-Vietnam War environment.{{cite news|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/131847121|title=New Ambassador to Vietnam appointed|date=2 June 1983|page=3|newspaper=The Canberra Times}} The appointment was his first term serving separately to his wife, Alison, who was the Australian Government's cultural attache in Tokyo.{{cite news|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/131847634|title=Mission head to miss wife|date=5 June 1983|page=16|newspaper=The Canberra Times}} At the time, Broinowski told media that he had reservations about the Department of Foreign Affairs' rule that a head of mission could not serve in the same legation as his or her spouse.{{cite news|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/127218872|title=Vietnam perspective of ambassador shows on visit to his wife|date=10 August 1984|page=2|newspaper=The Canberra Times|first=Roslyn|last=Hayman}}
Between 1987 and 1989 Broinowski was Australian Ambassador to South Korea, including during the time of the 1988 Summer Olympics.
From 1990 he worked for three years at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, as managing director of Radio Australia,{{citation|publisher=Wheeler Centre|url=http://www.wheelercentre.com/notes/e8e472ab6f6f|accessdate=14 January 2017|title=Working with Words: Richard Broinowski|first=Jo|last=Case|date=11 October 2012|url-status=live|archivedate=14 January 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170114072304/http://www.wheelercentre.com/notes/e8e472ab6f6f}} before returning to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1993. His final ambassadorial posting was announced in April 1994,{{cite news|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/118113215|title=New ambassadors|date=14 April 1994|page=16|newspaper=The Canberra Times}} as Australian Ambassador to Mexico, before his retirement in 1997.
In retirement, Broinowski became an adjunct professor in Media and Communications, working first at the University of Canberra before moving to the University of Sydney. He is a former President of Australian Institute of International Affairs NSW.{{citation|url=http://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/about-us/our-people/richard-broinowski/|title=Richard Broinowski: President of AIIA NSW|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423233044/http://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/about-us/our-people/richard-broinowski/|archivedate=23 April 2016|publisher=Australian Institute of International Affairs}}
On 10 June 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours Broinowski became an Officer in the General Division of the order of Australia.
In 2021 he was awarded the Judges' Special Prize at the Victorian Community History Awards for Under the Rainbow.{{Cite web|date=2021-10-27|title=Winners 2021 – Victorian Community History Awards|url=https://prov.vic.gov.au/winners-2021|access-date=2021-10-27|website=prov.vic.gov.au}}
Books published
- {{cite book|title=A Witness to History: The Life and Times of Robert Broinowski|publisher=Melbourne University Press|date=2001|isbn=0522849423}}
- {{cite book|title=Fact or Fission?: The Truth about Australia's Nuclear Ambitions|date=2003|publisher=Scribe|isbn=192076903X}}
- {{cite book|isbn=9780733324031|title=Driven: A Diplomat's Autobiography|date=2009|publisher=ABC/HarperCollins}}
- {{cite book|title=Fallout from Fukushima|date=2012|publisher=Scribe|isbn=9781922070166}}
- {{cite book|title=Under the Rainbow: The Life and Times of E.W. Cole|date=2020|publisher=Melbourne University Publishing|isbn=9780522876222}}
- {{cite book|isbn=9781922585745|title=Fact or Fission?: The Truth about Australia's Nuclear Ambitions|date=2022|publisher=Scribe}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-dip}}
{{s-bef|before=John McCarthy}}
{{s-ttl|title=Australian Ambassador to Vietnam|years=1983–1985}}
{{s-aft|after=Ian Lincoln}}
{{s-bef|before=Lance Joseph}}
{{s-ttl|title=Australian Ambassador to South Korea|years=1987–1989}}
{{s-aft|after=Darren Gribble}}
{{s-bef|before=Keith Baker}}
{{s-ttl|title=Australian Ambassador to Mexico
Australian Ambassador to Cuba|years=1994–1997}}
{{s-aft|after=Robert Hamilton}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Broinowski, Richard}}
Category:Ambassadors of Australia to Mexico
Category:Ambassadors of Australia to South Korea
Category:Ambassadors of Australia to Vietnam