E.T. Sheaf, Australian ‘Trade Commissioner in the East’, 1922–25

Abstract

Of the four trade officials assigned abroad by the Hughes government, E.T. Sheaf is the least well known. As the literature acknowledges, Sheaf’s appointment in 1921 was clearly the consequence of patronage. This article traces his appointment to his personal links with Hughes’ National Federation. The circumstances, hitherto obscure, of Sheaf’s early activities are established drawing in part on his extensive photographic archive. Despite his irregular preferment, Sheaf was a highly perceptive analyst of trading conditions in Asia and provided important market intelligence for the Australian government. However, insufficient use was made of his work by Australia’s still rudimentary trade bureaucracy. Following his government service, he was a frequent sojourner in Asia, but many of his discoveries had to be repeated by the 1930s trade service.