Percy Deane

Who was Percy Deane?

Percival Edgar Deane CMG was an Australian public servant.

Deane was born in Port Melbourne, the son of a carpenter. He won a scholarship to University High School, Melbourne, and then worked as a typewriter salesman, shorthand writer, and clerk at the University of Melbourne, before going into business, becoming part-owner of two companies, and founding and editing Australian Golfer.

On the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force and was posted to the 1st Australian General Hospital in Egypt, where he was commissioned Lieutenant and Quartermaster. In April 1916 he was invalided back to Australia suffering from overstrain.

In November 1916 he was appointed private secretary to Prime Minister Billy Hughes. He was secretary to the Australian delegation to the Versailles Conference, for which he was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1920 New Year Honours, and to the Australian delegations to the Imperial Conferences of 1921 and 1926. In February 1921 he was appointed Secretary of the Prime Minister's Department and in 1929 Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs until its abolition in 1932.