Memoirs of Meredith Worth [‎6r] (11/12)

Mr Casey warned me that eventually efforts would be made to squeeze me
out of the Department f as a pip squeezed out of an orange*• After three years
when I thought that the squeeze was starting I moved, again thanks to Mr
Casey to the Department of External Affairs, looking after Colombo Plan
students in Victoria and Tasmania, Some of "these students wdre officers of
the Indian and Pakistan Administrations, The;/ all told me how pleased they
were to have a member of the I.C.S. looking after them. One evening several
of them attended a lecture by the Professor of Modem History in Melbourne
University in which he started to refer t© the exploitation of India by the
British. He was cut short by a Forest Officer from Madras who gave him a real
dressing down and a history lesson into the bargain. Fortunately none of the
students was reading History at this University.
During the course of my work I found that there were several thousand
Asian students in Australia who were being educated at their own expense. .
They had very little contact with Australians outside their school and
technical courses and knew almost nothing of the country or its customs as
they never travelled. With the help of the ’Age’ newspaper and members of the
Rotary and other Clubs I was able to arrange for parties of these students
to spend days in the countryside with hospitable Australians. Mr & Mrs Casey
were very interested in this work and at the beginning he saw that funds were
put at my disposal to meet travel costs. With the help of Mrs Casey and the
small External Affairs Office in Melbourne a small booklet was printed, paid
for by the proprietor of the Herald newspaper, and issued to every new arrival
Eventually the External Affairs Department agreed that they had a liability
to help t&bse private students as well as the Colombo Plan students. I was
given a well furnished office and two assistants, and was allowed to make use
of the Department's Office in Melbourne. After three years this work was on a
sound basis and I felt able to retire and bring my family back to England.