H. C. Coombs

Herbert Cole "Nugget" Coombs
Born	Template:Birth date Kalamunda, Western Australia, Australia
Died	October 29, 1997(1997-10-29) (aged 91)
Occupation(s)	Economist, public servant
Known for	Inaugural Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia; Chair of Council for Aboriginal Affairs; Chancellor of Australian National University

Herbert Cole "Nugget" Coombs (24 February 1906 – 29 October 1997) was a distinguished Australian economist and public servant. He held the position of the inaugural Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia from 1960 until 1968.

Early years

Born in Kalamunda, Western Australia, Coombs was one of six siblings in a family where his father worked as a railway stationmaster and his mother was well-read.

The economic devastation wrought by the Great Depression on Australia's commodity-reliant economy significantly influenced his economic philosophy. Starting as a socialist student in Perth, his education at the London School of Economics led him to embrace the Keynesian economic principles advocated by John Maynard Keynes. Throughout his professional life, he consistently applied Keynesian strategies to tackle Australia's economic issues. Although he never pursued elected office or joined any political party, he played a key role in shaping policy through his administrative and advisory capacities.

Awarded a scholarship to Perth Modern School, Coombs taught while completing a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Western Australia (UWA), which was then the only tuition-free university in Australia. He graduated with first-class honours in economics, went on to earn an M.A., and in 1931 married Mary Alice ('Lallie') Ross, who was also a teacher. At UWA, he held leadership positions such as president of the Sports Council and the Guild of Undergraduates. Subsequently, he pursued doctoral studies at the London School of Economics under the mentorship of Harold Laski, completing a PhD in 1933 focused on central banking.

Returning to Perth in 1934, Coombs combined teaching duties with part-time lecturing in economics at UWA.

Public service

After returning to Australia in 1934, Coombs joined the state-owned Commonwealth Bank as an economist in 1935. By 1939, he had transitioned to the Department of the Treasury in Canberra as a senior economist, where he gained recognition for promoting Keynesian critiques against the dominant classical economics associated with the Melbourne University school.

With the Australian Labor Party led by John Curtin coming into government in 1941, Coombs's economic perspectives received stronger endorsement. Curtin appointed him to the Commonwealth Bank’s board in October 1941. In 1942, Treasurer Ben Chifley appointed him Director of Rationing, and by 1943 he became Director-General of the newly created Department of Post-war Reconstruction. Coombs played a crucial role in formulating the White Paper on Full Employment in Australia, which committed the government to sustaining full employment after WWII.

Chifley, who lacked formal training in economics, depended extensively on Coombs's counsel, elevating him to one of Australia's most powerful public servants during and following World War II. His influence expanded further when Chifley assumed the prime ministership in 1945.

In January 1949, Chifley named Coombs governor of the Commonwealth Bank, Australia's principal economic regulator. Following the victory of the Liberal Party later that year, Prime Minister Robert Menzies retained Coombs for his balanced Keynesian approach amid Australia's postwar economic expansion.

When the Reserve Bank of Australia was created in 1960 to take over central banking responsibilities, Coombs was appointed its first governor. He notably recognized Sir Leslie Melville as an ideal candidate for this role who had not been selected.

Coombs concluded his public service career with retirement in 1968.

Later life

Following his retirement, Coombs continued to engage actively in public affairs. In 1954, he became the inaugural chairman of the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust. A decade later, in 1967, he successfully convinced Prime Minister Harold Holt to establish the Australian Council for the Arts, taking on its chairmanship the following year. Working alongside Prime Minister John Gorton, Coombs played a pivotal role in securing financial support for the Australian film industry. He also served as chancellor of the Australian National University from 1968 to 1976, an institution he had helped establish in 1946. In 1970, he presented the Buntine Oration, focusing on education and social transformation.

One of Coombs’s most significant contributions after retirement was his advocacy for Australian Aboriginal communities. He assumed the chairmanship of the Council for Aboriginal Affairs in 1967, which was formed following the referendum that empowered the Commonwealth Parliament to legislate on Aboriginal issues. Despite this progress, he grew frustrated with the limited governmental implementation of the Council’s proposals under later administrations.

As a trusted advisor to Labor leader Gough Whitlam, Coombs influenced Labor’s policies on Aboriginal affairs, particularly concerning land rights. Appointed chair of the Office of Aboriginal Affairs in 1972, he championed housing reforms in Redfern, Sydney, which led to the establishment of the Aboriginal-managed project known as The Block.

In 1972, Coombs was honored as The Australian's first Australian of the Year. Between 1972 and 1975, he acted as a consultant to Prime Minister Whitlam but encountered opposition from other cabinet members and became disillusioned by events culminating in the Loans Affair and Whitlam’s dismissal in 1975. Although critical of Whitlam’s removal, Coombs’s estrangement from him diminished his active political engagement thereafter.

Coombs chaired the Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration from 1974 to 1976. The commission advocated for enhanced autonomy and systematic performance evaluations within the public service. However, these recommendations were largely disregarded by the subsequent Liberal government, which prioritized downsizing and accountability measures instead.

In 1976, Coombs stepped down from formal roles and joined the Australian National University’s Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, where he developed a focus on environmental concerns. He maintained his dedication to Indigenous issues by founding the Aboriginal Treaty Committee in 1979 to campaign for a formal treaty between Australia and Aboriginal peoples—a proposal that governments did not adopt. Additionally, he served as president of the Australian Conservation Foundation between 1977 and 1979.

Opposing the economic doctrines associated with Thatcherism, Coombs introduced the concept of a Common Wealth Estate aimed at promoting equitable wealth distribution in his 1990 publication The Return of Scarcity. After suffering a stroke in 1995, he passed away in Sydney two years later.

During the tenure of the Howard government, Coombs’s contributions to Aboriginal affairs were critiqued by conservative commentators such as journalist Piers Akerman, who contended that his policies encouraged dependency through communal land ownership models. Nevertheless, numerous Aboriginal leaders continue to view Coombs as a seminal advocate for Indigenous rights—a perspective highlighted by Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe during a visit to Yirrkala in 2019.

Relationship with Judith Wright

In June 2009, journalist Fiona Capp disclosed a previously undisclosed romantic relationship spanning twenty-five years between Coombs and esteemed poet-activist Judith Wright, revealing an intimate aspect of two influential Australian figures.

Recognition

Coombs was named a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1975 but chose to resign from this honor in 1976 following the introduction of knighthoods into the Order.

In January 2008, a suburb within Canberra's Molonglo district was designated Coombs as a tribute to his enduring legacy.