Next in order of importance as regarded appointments was, to my mind, that of private secretary to the Governor-General. If there is an office that requires consummate tact, knowledge and even-minded temperament, commend me to that of private secretary to a Governor-General. In his case Lord Hopetoun was fully satisfied to avail himself of the services of Captain Wallington, with whom he was already intimately acquainted. Captain Wallington had served in the capacity of private secretary to several Governors. I wonder, if he happens to read these lines, whether he will agree with me that perhaps during his long term of office he enjoyed the quiet days he spent in Adelaide with Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, who was then Governor, as much as any of his time in other colonies. Captain Wallington, now Sir Edward, must forgive me if I remind him of the soubriquet by which his personal friends knew him—“Better not.” All his friends rejoice in the fact that he is now filling a very high position of trust and enjoying the best of health.
I have been following, if you have noticed, the sequence of appointments which it devolved upon the Government to make in initiating the Commonwealth. I will continue this plan as regards the senior positions under the Commander-in-Chief. At the time of General Hutton’s arrival the commands in the several States were held by the following officers:
New South Wales: Major-General French (late) Royal Artillery.
Victoria: Sir Charles Holled Smith’s term of office as Commandant had expired shortly before the inauguration of Federation, and the post was held by my old friend General Downes, who, on his retirement finally from the South Australian Command, had settled in Melbourne, and had been requested by the Victorian Government to take on the duties of Commandant temporarily.
Queensland: Major-General Finn, seconded from the 21st Hussars.
South Australia: I was still Commandant.
Western Australia: Colonel Francis.
Tasmania: Colonel Legge, (late) Royal Artillery.
Pending the expiration of the terms of service of Generals French and Finn in New South Wales and Queensland the first important vacancy to be filled was that of Commandant of Victoria, held temporarily by General Downes. This was offered to me and I accepted it. When the appointment was announced Kingston was the first to send for me to congratulate me. I felt, indeed, short of words to thank him for what he had done for me. I owed so much of my success to him. He was kind enough to say “that he could honestly assure me that if my work had not been satisfactory I would not have had his support and that of his colleagues and Parliament; that he was sorry I was leaving South Australia, and he would prophesy still higher promotion for me in the future.”
These words, coupled with the fact that I was once more to follow my old friend General Downes’s footsteps and occupy his chair as Commandant of Victoria, set me thinking.