Lieutenant General
John Murray Sanderson AC (born 4 November 1940) is a former
Governor of Western
Australia
and a former
Chief of the Australian
Army.
Early life
Born in
Geraldton
, Western Australia on 4 November 1940, John Sanderson completed his
secondary education at Bunbury
High School in 1957 before entering the Royal Military
College, Duntroon
in 1958. He graduated in 1961 and was
commissioned into the
Royal
Australian Engineers in December 1961.
Service History
After
completing a Fellowship Diploma in Civil Engineering at the
Royal Melbourne
Institute of Technology
, John
Sanderson had a series of regimental postings. These included second
in command of 10 Field Squadron and Troop Commander and
Construction Officer of 21 Construction Squadron on operational
service in Sabah
, Malaysia
. He
was promoted to
Captain in
1965.
Following eighteen months as a Staff Officer in the Office of the
Engineer in Chief, he was posted as the Exchange Instructor at the
Royal School of
Military Engineering, Chatterden UK from 1967–1969.
He
returned to Australia to command 23 Construction Squadron at
Holsworthy
prior to taking up command of 17 Construction
Squadron in South Vietnam at the end
of 1970.
Returning
to Australia in late 1971, he was the Senior Instructor at the
School of Military Engineering throughout 1972 before attending the
Army Command and Staff
College at Fort
Queenscliff
during
1973.
Sanderson was promoted to
Lieutenant
Colonel in 1975 after serving for a short period as a Staff
Officer at the Headquarters of Field Force Command. His initial
appointment as Staff Officer Grade 1 at the Directorate of
Engineers was followed by two years (1976-1978) as the Exchange
Instructor at the British Army
Staff College, Camberley.
He
commanded the 1st Field Engineer Regiment from 1979–1980, and then
attended the Joint Services Command and Staff
College
in 1981. Sanderson was appointed as the
Military Assistant to the
Chief of the General Staff in late
1981, serving in that capacity until being promoted to Colonel as
Director of Army Plans in 1983.
From June
1985 to the middle of 1986 he attended the U.S.
Army War College, returning to Australia with the rank of Brigadier. After a six month period as
Chairman of the Army Reserve Review Committee, he assumed command
of the 1st Brigade at Holsworthy.
Sanderson served as Chief of Staff Land Command for a brief period
in 1989 and was then promoted to
Major General and appointed as
Assistant Chief of Defence Policy. In this role he was tasked to
develop and carry out major reforms to the Higher
ADF Staff, which resulted in him
becoming the first Assistant Chief of Defence Force Development at
the end of 1989.
From
October 1991, Sanderson became engaged directly in the United Nations process to bring peace to
Cambodia
, first as adviser to the Secretary General of the
United Nations, and then from March 1992, in the rank of
Lieutenant General as
the Commander of the 16,000 strong international military component
of the United Nations Transitional
Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC).
After the successful completion of the UN mission in October 1993,
Sanderson returned to Australia to be appointed as the first
Commander Joint Forces Australia (now
CJOPS),
and developed this role until becoming Chief of the General Staff
in June 1995. This position was renamed to
Chief of Army in 1997, and
Sanderson continued in this position until his retirement from the
army on 23 June 1998.
Governor
On 18
August 2000 John Sanderson was sworn in as 32nd Governor of
Western
Australia.
Sanderson retired as Governor of Western Australia in June 2005
after his term of office expired, but agreed to stay on until 31
October 2005 to assist with the transition to the new Governor. His
successor was Dr
Ken Michael who was
sworn in on 18 January 2006.
Honours
Over time General Sanderson's service to
Australia has been recognised by the award of
Member of the Order of
Australia(1985), Officer of the Order (1991) and Companion of
the Order (1994). He was also awarded the
Centenary Medal in 2001.
General Sanderson has
also been recognised by the United States of America
for his service to the region and the alliance by
the award of the Legion of Merit
Commander Class.
In July 2008, General Sanderson was selected as one of the
inaugural fellows of the
Australian
Institute of International Affairs to highlight his very high
level of distinction in and distinguished contribution to
Australia's international affairs.
References
- Vietnam War Nominal Roll
- Lieutenant General John Murray Sanderson, AC -
Australian War Memorial
- It's an Honour - Member of the Order of
Australia
- It's an Honour - Officer of the Order of
Australia
- It's an Honour - Companion of the Order of
Australia
- It's an Honour - Centenary Medal
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