Edward Ronald Walker
Sir Edward Ronald Walker (26 January 1907 – 28 November 1988) was an Australian diplomat and economist who served as Australia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Ambassador to Germany, Japan, and France. Early life and education Walker was born on 26 January 1907 in Cobar, New South Wales the, eldest child of Frederick Thomas Walker, a Methodist minister, and Mary Melvina Annie Walker, née King. Born into a prominent family in the Methodist movement, Walker's mother was also the daughter of a Methodist minister and his paternal cousin was the Methodist minister and social activist Sir Alan Walker. Nevertheless, Walker, on account of his family circumstances, had to leave school at an early age and later matriculated to Fort Street Boys’ High School. After finishing high school, in 1924 Walker won a Teachers College scholarship to the University of Sydney, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1927 and then a Master of Arts (MA) in 1930 in economics and psychology. In 1927 Walker was given a lecturing position in economics by Sydney University and in 1930 was appointed acting-Dean of the Faculty of Economics. After graduating with first class honours from his master's degree, Walker worked with Robert Madgwick to publish an economics textbook "An Outline of Australian Economics" (published 1932). On account of his academic success, Walker was also awarded a Rockefeller Foundation scholarship in 1931 and entered St John’s College, Cambridge, studying for a doctorate in economics. While at Cambridge Walker joined the Political Economy Club, which included amongst its founders John Maynard Keynes, and he became a firm adherent to Keynes' ideas on economics throughout his life. His doctoral dissertation, entitled "Australia in the World Depression", was supervised by Dennis Robertson and Arthur Cecil Pigou and at award in 1933 was the second PhD in economics at Cambridge. On 8 April 1933, at Beaumont, Belgium, Walker married Louise Clementine Donckers, a schoolteacher. Academic career On his return to Australia, Walker resumed his position as a lecturer in economics at the University of Sydney from 1933. Walker later made an appearance before the 1936-37 Royal Commission on Monetary and Banking Systems, which was established by the Federal Government of Joseph Lyons to examine potential changes to the banking sector. At the royal commission, Walker argued that monetary policy should have two objectives: "the avoidance or mitigation of depressions" and "the stabilization of the purchasing power of money". Impressed by his submissions, the Commonwealth Government sent Walker to Geneva as a delegate to the League of Nations in 1937 and on his return to Australia in 1938 he was appointed an economic adviser to the New South Wales Treasury. He served the NSW Treasury in this capacity until in March 1939, he was appointed to succeed Frank Mauldon as Professor of Economics at the University of Tasmania and also as an economic adviser to the Tasmanian Government. With the outbreak of war, Walker studied many aspects of Australia's economy under wartime conditions and regulation. In