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McGuire, Paul

Page history last edited by PBworks 16 years, 5 months ago

Dominic Paul McGuire (1903-1978) was an Australian diplomat. He was educated at the University of Adelaide and in 1927 married Frances Mary Cheadle, a biochemist who became a Catholic activist. He lectured in the US and Canada and served in the Royal Australian Navy (Reserve) during WW2. His mystery writing career ran from 1931 to 1940. He was Australian Ambassador to Italy from 1954-1958 and Envoy Extraordinary to the Holy See. He also wrote non-fiction about history and politics. His series characters were Chief Inspector Cummings and Inspector (later Superintendent) Fillinger.

McGuire's papers are in the National Library of Australia.

A tribute to Paul McGuire from Christian Brothers' College

Paul McGuire was born in Peterborough in 1903 and was educated at Christian Brothers College, Adelaide, from 1916 to 1919 and the University of Adelaide where he was Tinline scholar in history.

His career was both distinguished and varied. He served first as the Australian Minister, and then Australian Ambassador to Rome. He was the first Australian Ambassador to the Holy See and received from the Pope the Knight Grand Cross of St. Sylvester, Pope and Martyr. This was an Equestrian Order and his letters reveal that “Tom Playford once promised that if I acquired the full uniform, he’d lend me a Police Grey to ride up King William Street when the occasion seemed appropriate”!

Paul McGuire represented the Australian Government at the consecration of Pope John XXIII in 1959. His career included becoming the Australian delegate to the General Assembly of the United Nations. During the war, Paul McGuire served with Naval Intelligence and reached the rank of Commander. He continued this association after the War as a member of the Royal Australian Navy Volunteer Reserve. He was made a CBE in 1951.

He also gained recognition as an author of fiction, verse, literary criticism, history, travel writing and policies. Several of his works became best sellers in the early years of World War II. He became recognised as one of the Catholic intelligentsia who “generated ideas and promoted critical discussion on all the significant issues of the day”.

After the war, Paul McGuire worked as a news correspondent working for the Melbourne Argus. He travelled through much of Europe and the Republic of Ireland, where he had meetings with leaders including President de Valera of Eire and Prime Minister McKenzie King of Canada, and President Truman of the United States.

Back in Australia, Paul McGuire’s church and community work was continued with a high profile. He was President of the Good Neighbour Council of South Australia and founded the Catholic Guild of Social Studies with his wife Margaret, and the late Dominican priest and fellow CBC old scholar, Fr. J. O’Dougherty. Paul McGuire was also a member of Adelaide’s first Diocesan Pastoral Council. He founded the

Catholic Library, later to become the Adelaide Diocesan Library, and was an active member of the Order of Knights of the Southern Cross.

Paul McGuire believed in the individual’s duty to work for the community good – to live actively the Catholic life – and was hailed by his contemporaries as “a committed witness to the Catholic tradition”. He became involved in The Call to Australia Campaign of the 1950s, a movement aiming to lift the country’s spirit and morale. The publication of his book Freedom for the Brave so impressed Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, that he took Paul McGuire to the 1951 Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference in London as a personal adviser.

Dominic Paul McGuire died in Adelaide at the age of seventy five on 15th June, 1978. At his Requiem Mass Archbishop Gleeson’s tribute included the words “Paul McGuire was one of the most outstanding sons of the Church and of Australia”.

In 1980, the Paul McGuire Maritime Collection was established within the State Library of South Australia as a special collection of some 3000 titles on all aspects of the sea and shipping. It contains some rare items including a unique 18th century manuscript book of instructions for young naval officers. The collection was made possible by the generosity of Mrs. McGuire in donating her late husband’s naval books and manuscripts, together with establishment funding for the public good.