Harry Christian Giese AM MBE (1913-2000) made a major contribution to health and education in the Northern Territory. He played what the Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography called ‘a pivotal role’ in establishing the Menzies School of Health Research, bringing together as stakeholders the NT Government, the Menzies Foundation, the University of Sydney and the embryo Northern Territory University to set up the now-thriving School, which meets the challenges of living in tropical and arid regions, and improving the health of Indigenous Australians.
Born in Greenbushes, Western Australia, Harry Giese was the descendant of a German family who arrived in Australia in the 1870s. Educated at the Universities of Western Australia and Melbourne, from 1944-47 he was Queensland’s first Director of Physical Education, after military service and a similar job in Western Australia.
A member of the Darwin community from 1954, he came to the Territory to build what became the largest department of the Northern Territory Administration, the Welfare Branch. His job as Director of Welfare was an ‘arduous and controversial’ role at the centre of Commonwealth government policy. With fellow reformers, he helped create the infrastructure of modern life from the ruins of World War II. As Matthew Stephen wrote: ‘welfare issues in the NT over the two decades of his administration…became arguably some of the most significant features of the post-war development of Territory society…this was a period that saw unprecedented expansion of funding and services to remote areas.’ The Welfare Branch ‘was comprehensively involved in health and education services infrastructure’ for Aboriginal people, including housing and utilities. For the Territory as a whole, it led the establishment of pre-school education, community associations and chlld welfare services.
After the devastation of Cyclone Tracy, Giese stayed on in Darwin to work with local people through the Darwin Disaster Welfare Council, which he chaired. It played, wrote Stephen, ‘a significant role in co-ordination of welfare services during the difficult days of the re-establishment of the city’s life’.
This collection reflects Giese’s 50-year dedication to working with fellow citizens to build community organisations ‘operated and managed by the community itself’. He was Foundation President and honorary Life Member of organisations including Carpentaria Disability Services, the Royal Life Saving Society, Relationships Australia, NT Rugby Union, the Darwin Probus Club and the Royal Australian Institute of Public Administration.
At his death in 2000, his colleagues on the Northern Territory Legislative Council, of which he was the longest-serving member (1954-73), published a Tribute in his honour. Members commented: ‘the period in which he served on this Council was one when things got going’; and ‘he started from scratch with his field work and with legislative work. It was an enormous task and few people would really be able to appreciate the enormous accomplishments he has made.’ Said Chief Minister Burke: ‘Harry Giese was a man who served the Territory in so many different ways, it is difficult not to overlook some part of his enormous contribution.’
