Tonia Shand
High Commissioner of Australia to Sri Lanka
In office
February 1988 – December 1991
Preceded byRobert Cotton
Succeeded byHoward Debenham
Personal details
Born
Tonia Louise Moffat

(1939-11-06)6 November 1939
United Kingdom
Died15 July 2020(2020-07-15) (aged 80)
Canberra, Australia
Alma materUniversity of Melbourne

Tonia Louise Shand AM (6 November 1939 – 15 July 2020)[1] was an Australian diplomat and public servant, who served as Australia's first woman High Commissioner to Sri Lanka from 1988 to 1991.[2]

Early life and education

Shand was born Tonia Louise Moffat in Britain in 1939 to Australian parents, Gordon and Marjorie Moffatt. She and her mother moved to Melbourne, Victoria when World War II began, while her civil engineer father was posted to Singapore with the Royal Air Force where he built airfields.[2]

Shand graduated from the University of Melbourne with a BA, majoring in German and political science.[2]

Career

Following graduation, Shand joined the Department of External Affairs (now DFAT) and she was posted to Tel Aviv, Bonn, Geneva and Stockholm.[2] The marriage bar that existed in the Australian public service at the time forced her to resign when she married Richard (Ric or Ricky) Shand, however she was able to return in a temporary capacity until the birth of their daughter Brigit in October 1964.[3][4]

In 1973 she, a married woman with a child, was given permission to join the staff of the High Commission in Delhi, India from 1973 to 1975.[2][5] Her next overseas posting was as Deputy High Commissioner in Kuala Lumpur from 1979 to 1982.[5] In 1983, she became the first woman in Australia to be appointed Chief of Protocol.[6] In 1985, while Assistant Secretary of the Peace and Disarmament Branch of the Department of Foreign Affairs, she was appointed by Bill Hayden to the Consultative Committee on Peace and Disarmament, a 19-member committee convened to prepare for the International Year of Peace in 1986.[7]

In 1988, three years after the death of her daughter,[8] she was posted by Michael Duffy to Sri Lanka as High Commissioner.[9] She was the first woman to fill that role,[2] which also included non-resident High Commissioner to the Maldives.[9]

Shand was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 1990 Queen's Birthday Honours.[10] In 2005, she was interviewed by Michael Wilson for the National Library of Australia's Australian diplomats 1950–2000 collection.[11]

She died in Canberra on 15 July 2020.[1] Her husband had predeceased her in 2014.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 "TONIA SHAND Death Notice - Sydney, New South Wales | Sydney Morning Herald". tributes.smh.com.au. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Shand, Fiona (31 July 2020). "DFAT trailblazer diplomatically overcame limitations on women". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  3. ↑ "Family Notices". The Canberra Times. Vol. 38, no. 10, 675. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 24 October 1963. p. 40. Retrieved 12 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ "Family Notices". The Canberra Times. Vol. 39, no. 10, 971. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 8 October 1964. p. 24. Retrieved 12 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. 1 2 3 Wensley, Penny (2 August 2020). "A pioneer and a ray of sunshine". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  6. ↑ "Lady's first in protocol post". The Canberra Times. Vol. 57, no. 17, 330. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 11 March 1983. p. 3. Retrieved 12 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ Australia. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (31 July 1985). International Year of Peace: national committee formed (31 July 1985). In Australian foreign affairs record. 56 (7)
  8. ↑ "Family Notices". The Canberra Times. Vol. 61, no. 18, 703. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 17 December 1986. p. 32. Retrieved 12 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. 1 2 "Diplomatic appointment – Sri Lanka and the Maldives". Parliament of Australia. 13 April 1988. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  10. ↑ "Mrs Tonia Louise Shand". It's An Honour. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  11. ↑ "Tonia Shand interviewed by Michael Wilson in the Australian diplomats 1950-2000 collection". Trove – National Library of Australia. 2005. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
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