Herbert Cole Coombs (1906-1997) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

Herbert Cole "Nugget" Coombs

Born 24 Feb 1906 in Kalamunda, Western Australia, Australia

Ancestors

Son of Francis Robert Henry Coombes and Rebecca Mary Elliott

Brother of Annie Adelaide (Coombes) Purdy, [private sister (1910s - unknown)], Jenny Coombes and Phyllis Coombes

Husband of Mary Alice (Ross) Coombs — married 5 Dec 1931 in Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Descendants

Father of John Sebastian Coombs QC

Died 29 Oct 1997 at age 91 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

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Profile last modified 10 Nov 2023 | Created 6 Jun 2020

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1 Biography
2 Recognition
3 Obituary
4 Sources

Biography

Herbert Coombs was born in Western Australia, Australia

Herbert Cole Coombs was born on 24 February 1906 in Kalamunda, Western Australia.^[1] His father, Frank Coombes, was 28 and his mother, Rebecca Elliott, was 23.

Herbert attended the primary schools closest to where his father worked as a stationmaster, first in Claremont and then, from 1913 to 1918, in Bridgetown. After winning a scholarship to Perth Modern School in 1918, he boarded in a Subiaco household and graduated at the end of 1923.

Herbert's first work was as a monitor at Busselton Primary School in 1924, and he continued his education at Claremont Teachers' College (1925-26).^[2] He was initially interested in physical education but was quickly lured to economics. While attending the University of Western Australia (1927-30) (BA, 1930; MA, 1932), he taught in rural and metropolitan government schools. While obtaining his master's degree, he tutored in economics, served as president of the Guild of Undergraduates, and represented students as a non-voting member of the university senate.

Due to his tiny size and purposeful walk, he was better known as "Nugget" Coombs. As a boy, his father's itinerant career as a station master led him all throughout Western Australia.

He married Mary Alice Ross, a schoolteacher, in a Catholic ceremony at the Church of the Queen of Martyrs in Maylands on December 5, 1931.^[3]

Later that day, they set off for London, where he had received a Hackett fellowship to study at the London School of Economics and Political Science (PhD, 1933).^[4] Herbert investigated central bank policies in Britain's dominions in his master's and doctoral theses. In 1933, "Nugget" expressed concern about liberalism's ability to withstand the advent of communism and fascism. As a part-time teacher in London schools, he had witnessed the plight of the working class. After returning to Australia in 1934 and briefly teaching at Perth Boys' School and the University of Western Australia, he was hired as an assistant economist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in July 1935 by his master's thesis examiner, (Sir) Leslie Melville.^[5]

His final conference talk, delivered in Darwin in September 1995, addressed how distant Aboriginal women's activities might be assured of governmental funding. Herbert was sent to hospital after having a stroke during his presentation, and later to the James Milson Nursing Home in North Sydney, where he died on October 29, 1997.^[6] His funeral service at St Mary's Catholic Cathedral merged Lallie's religion ceremonies with those of his Yolngu companions, directed by Galarrwuy Yunupingu, and ended with everyone present singing 'Waltzing Matilda.'

"Nugget" was one of the few whites to be adopted as a tribal family member by the Yolgnu people of Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory. They called him Dhumbul Bapa, or "Short Father".

Recognition

Herbert was named a Companion of the Order of Australia during the Order's inaugural ceremony on the Queen's Birthday in 1975. However, when the Order's knighthood was introduced in 1976, he resigned.^[7]

Coombs, a new suburb in the Canberra district of Molonglo, was designated in January 2008.^[8] It is adjacent to the new Wright suburb, which was named for Judith Wright.

THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. Appointment of Herbert Cole Coombs as a Member of the Interim Council. HIS Excellency the Governor-General in Council has been pleased to appoint Herbert Cole Coombs as a member of the Interim Council in accordance with the provision of section 12 of the Australian National University Act 1946 1947.—(Ex. Min. No. 1.) JOHN J. DEDMAN Minister of State for Post-war Reconstruction.

The last Governor of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (from January 1949 to January 1960) and the first Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (from January 1960 to July 1968). ^[9]

Obituary

^[10] Herbert Cole Coombs was undoubtedly Australia's greatest distinguished civil servant, but he will be remembered for more than that. Since the Second World War, he has had a major impact on practically every part of Australian life: the economy, finance, education, the arts, and, most significantly, the advancement of Aborigines.

Herbert served seven prime ministers, beginning with John Curtin during World War II and ending with Gough Whitlam in the 1970s. "He was one of the most important Australians this century," remarked Bob Hawke, who became Prime Minister after Coombs' retirement in the 1980s. I don't believe any white Australian has made a greater consistent and tangible commitment to Aboriginal people."

In 1948 Herbert was appointed Governor of the Commonwealth Bank, then the central bank, at the age of 42, and became the first governor of its successor, the Reserve Bank, 12 years later. In the intervening years, he assisted in the establishment of the Australian National University, today an exceptional research institution, as well as the establishment of some of the publicly financed arts organisations that have revolutionised Australia's cultural scene over the last 30 years. ^[11]

After formally retiring from public service, Herberts' primary interest became Aboriginal affairs. He was among the first to publicly label the impact of white occupancy of Australia on Aborigines as "genocide" beginning in 1788. He continued to criticise the "betrayal" of Aborigines and the "sell-out" of the elite in speeches before a stroke left him in ill condition. He was also the first chairman of the Council for Aboriginal Affairs. Herbert is appropriately considered as Australia's founding father of Modern Australia.