Summary heading

  F R Sinclair CBE (CP 499)

Career within Commonwealth

  Frank Roy Sinclair was born in Nurrabiel, Victoria and was educated at the local school and in Melbourne. In 1910, he joined the Commonwealth Public Service as a clerk and remained within the Defence (later Army) portfolio throughout his career. Early positions held included Assistant Secretary to the Military Board (1914), Accountant (Army) (1929) and Secretary to the Defence Committee (1937).

By the beginning of World War II, Sinclair was Assistant Secretary within the Department of Defence (1938-39), and remained at that level in the Department of Defence Co-ordination (1939-40) until his promotion to Secretary of the Department of the Army (1941-55). During the war, he was also Assistant Secretary to War Cabinet and the Advisory War Council. In his last five years as Permanent Head of the Department of the Army, he represented the department on the Joint War Production Committee and to the Defence Division of the Department of the Treasury.

In 1952, three years before his retirement, Sinclair was made a Commander within the Order of the British Empire (CBE). He died in 1965.

Links to other Commonwealth Persons

Publications

End notes

Sources

  Federal Guide, August 1950, pp 26, 37

  Who’s Who in Australia 1941, p 604; 1944, p 740; 1955, p 699; 1962, p 782