Notable Graduates

RMC has a number of graduates who have gone on to become highly respected members of both the service and the community. Four of these graduates include:

GOVERNER GENERAL HIS EXCELLENCY MAJOR GENERAL MICHAEL JEFFERY, AC, CVO, MC

Major General Michael Jeffery, AC, CVO, MC was born in Wiluna, Western Australia in 1937 and educated at Kent Street High School and the Royal Military College, Duntroon. He graduated into Infantry and served operationally in Malaya, Borneo, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam, where he was awarded the Military Cross and the South Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. After command of all combat elements of the Army from platoon to division - including the Special Air Service Regiment - he retired in 1993 to assume the appointment of Governor of Western Australia, which he held for almost seven years. His major interests during his tenure were in youth affairs, education, environment and the family.

For his services to the State he was appointed a Companion in the Order of Australia, a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order and a Citizen of Western Australia.

On his retirement as Governor in 2000 he established in Perth, a not for profit research institute - Future Directions International (FDI) - whose object is to examine longer term issues facing Australia. On 20 December 2000 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Technology by Curtin University.

On 11 August 2003 he was sworn in as the twenty-fourth Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia.

FORMER CHIEF OF DEFENCE FORCE GENERAL PETER COSGROVE

Peter Cosgrove was born into an Army family in Sydney in 1947. After secondary schooling at Waverley College he entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1965, graduating in 1968 to the Royal Australian Infantry Corps. He served initially with the 1st Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR) in Malaysia before joining the Australian Reinforcement Unit at Nui Dat in South Vietnam in August 196 While in Vietnam he served with 9RAR and as a platoon commander at HQ 1st Australian Task Force.

In his subsequent service he has served with 5RAR and later as Adjutant 5/7RAR, and as Commanding Officer 1RAR between 1983 and 1984. He also commanded the 6th Brigade and the 1st Division at Enoggera in Brisbane.

General Cosgrove has commanded the Methods of Instruction Team based at Ingleburn, NSW, instructed in tactics at the Infantry Centre at Singleton, where he was also later Commandant and Director of Infantry. He has been the Commandant of the Australian Defence Warfare Centre at RAAF Williamtown, and also of the Royal Military College Duntroon. He attended the United States Marine Corps Staff College at Quantico, USA in 1978, and was the Australian exchange instructor at the British Army Staff College, Camberly from 1984-1986. He has also attended the Australian Joint Services Staff College and the Indian National Defence College.

He has served as a staff officer at Headquarters Field Force Command in Sydney and at Army Headquarters in Canberra. In 1972 he was Aide de Camp to the Governor General, Sir Paul Hasluck, and in 1987 Military Assistant to the Chief of the General Staff. In 1999 as Commander of the Deployable Joint Force Headquarters he assumed command of the International Forces in East Timor (INTERFET) until the force was withdrawn in February 2000. On his return to Australia he was appointed Chief of Army and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General. In July 2002 he was promoted to the rank of General and assumed the position of Chief of the Defence Force.

For his service with INTERFET he was advanced to Companion of Military Division the Order of Australia (AC), having previously been a Member of the Order for his service as Commanding Officer, 1RAR. He was awarded the Military Cross for his service with 9RAR in South Vietnam, and has received several foreign awards including the Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, a Commander of the United States Legion of Merit, the Tong-il medal from the Republic of Korea, and the Grand Chain of Infante Dom Henrique from Portugal. In 2001 he was the Australian of the Year.

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE, THE LORD MAYOR OF BRISBANE, COUNCILLOR CAMPBELL NEWMAN

Campbell Newman is a qualified Civil Engineer. He had a 13-year career as an Australian Army Engineer, retiring at the end of 1993 with the rank of major. Following his service in the army, Campbell worked as a business consultant. During his career he helped improve the performance of large Australian companies such as Telstra, BHP Australia Coal and the Hydro Electric Commission in Tasmania.

Campbell moved from consulting to leading Queensland agribusiness, Grainco Australia, where he developed a $60 million grain handling system for growers in southern NSW and Victoria. He later became responsible for the operations of the entire company, including export grain terminals in Mackay, Gladstone, Brisbane and Melbourne. Before entering the Council, Campbell established his own consulting firm, specialising in bulk commodity logistics.

Campbell has an honours degree in civil engineering from the University of New South Wales and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Queensland.

PROFESSOR ROBERT J O'NEILL AO FASSA FRHistS

Professor O'Neill retired as Chichele Professor of the History of War and as a Fellow of All Souls College, University of Oxford in September 2001. Professor O'Neill is a graduate of the Royal Military College of Australia (RMC) and served in the Australian Regular Army from 1955 - 1968. Having been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, he studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Brasenose College, Oxford from 1961 - 1963 and in 1965 was awarded a D Phil in Modern History. After resuming military duties in Australia, he served with 5RAR in Vietnam from 1966 - 1967 and was mentioned in dispatches. Subsequently he was posted to RMC as Instructor in Military History 1967 to 196

In 1969 Professor O'Neill was appointed as a Senior Fellow in International Relations at the Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University (ANU). As Head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre (SDSC) at the ANU from 1971 - 1982 he established the Centre as a substantial force in public debate on strategic policy in Australia, the Asia - Pacific region, and internationally. In 1982, he was appointed as Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London, an organisation then of 2,500 members in 80 countries. Professor O'Neill was appointed as the Chichele Professor of the History of War at Oxford in 1987 and was a founding Co-Director of the All Souls College Foreign Policy Studies Program from 1991 - 2001. He served as Chairman of the Council of the IISS, 1996 - 2001, and as Chairman of Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, 1998 - 2001.

Professor O'Neill was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1988.