| Creator: |
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| Date of birth: |
16/08/1902 |
| Place of birth: |
Grovedale, Victoria, Australia |
| Date of death: |
16/06/1985 |
| Place of death: |
Toorak, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Biography: |
G.W. Paton was a graduate of Scotch College, the University of Melbourne and Magdalen College, Oxford from 1926 to 1929. In the following year he became Barrister-at-Law and lectured in Law at the London School of Economics. He was Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Melbourne from 1931, Dean of Law from 1943 and was appointed Vice-Chancellor in 1951. Sir George chaired the Olympic Games Fine Arts Committee 1953 to 1957, and the National Library Enquiry Committee in 1956 (see below).
The Federal Government's Royal Commission on Television, to which Sir George was appointed chairman in February 1953, consisted of C.B. Bednall, Mrs. Maud Foxton, R.G. Osborne, R.C. Wilson and N.S. Young. Its object was to enable Australia to profit from the experience of other countries in introducing and controlling television. The enquiry considered the numbers of national and commercial channels to be established, the economics involved and standards to be observed.
In 1956 the Federal Government established a committee, chaired by Paton, "to examine the whole question of control of the National Library and its functions" and advise on possible changes, the central problem being that the National Library was controlled by a Parliamentary committee but performed many services unconnected with Parliament, while financial responsibility for it lay with the Prime Minister's Department. The chief result following the presentation of the Committee's Report was the separation of the National Library from the Parliamentary Library and the establishment of a separate Archival Authority (this authority having been vested in the Library from 1952) over the Commonwealth's Archives. Paton retired as Vice-Chancellor in 1968 and died in 1985. |
| Activities/Occupation: |
Academics - Law, Vice-chancellors, Art galleries |
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