Harold Leslie White


Sir Harold Leslie White was the Parliamentary Librarian of Australia from 1947 to 1960, and National Librarian from 1960 until his retirement in 1970.

Career

White joined the staff of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library when he was 18 years old in 1923 at 18. Four years later he became deputy librarian and went on to become Parliamentary Librarian in 1947, while simultaneously holding the title of National Librarian.

National Library

As Parliamentary Librarian and later National Librarian, he was known for his relentless advocacy of a separate home for the National Library of Australia, within the Parliamentary Triangle, Canberra. When Sir Robert Menzies retired as Prime Minister in 1966, he remarked that he "jolly well had to give Harold White the National Library to shut him up".

Honours

White was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1962, and knighted in the New Year's Honours of 1970.
In 1983 the Library Association of Australia gave him an H.C.L. Anderson Award.

Family

White was born in Numurkah, Victoria and educated at Invergordon Primary School and Wesley College, Melbourne.
He was the father of four children: