Malcolm Lindsay Shepherd was born at Cambewarra, on the south coast of New South Wales, in 1873 and attended St Phillips Church of England Grammar School in Sydney. He worked as a clerk in the General Post Office in Sydney (1890-1901), then the Commonwealth Postmaster-General's Department in Melbourne (1901-04), before becoming Private Secretary to, successively, Prime Ministers Deakin, Watson, Reid and Fisher (1904-11). 

With the establishment of the Prime Minister's Department, Shepherd became its first Secretary (1911-21), during the terms of Prime Ministers Fisher, Cook and Hughes. He also served as the first Secretary to both the Historic Memorials Committee and the Art Advisory Board; accompanied Fisher to the inauguration of the Union of South Africa in 1910 and to the Imperial Conference and Coronation of His Majesty George V in London in 1911; accompanied Hughes to the Imperial Conference in London in 1916; and, with S M Bruce, was one of two Australian delegates to the Second Assembly of the League of Nations in 1921. Shepherd was then appointed Official Secretary to the Australian High Commission in London (1921-27). In this period he was also Acting High Commissioner for several months (1921) and Australian representative on the Imperial War Graves Commission, serving on the Belgian and French committees, and the Pacific Cable Board. 

On his return to Australia, Shepherd became Secretary to the Department of Defence (1927-37). A first generation senior Commonwealth public servant, he was made a Companion of the Imperial Service Order (ISO) in 1920 and a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1935. He retired in 1937 and died in East Melbourne in 1960. 

Sources:

Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol 11, 1891-1939, p 592
National Archives of Australia, M L Shepherd memoirs: CRS A1632
Who's Who in Australia 1959, p 725
 

Summary heading

  M L Shepherd (CP 25)

Unregistered links

  c1921 – c1927:  Imperial War Graves Commission – Australian Representative

  c1921 – c1927:  Pacific Cable Board – Australian Representative