Collin Freeland

Collin Freeland AO
Secretary of the Department of Housing and Construction
In office 5 August 1980 – 7 May 1982
Secretary of the Department of Aviation
In office 7 May 1982 – 10 February 1986
Secretary of the Department of Transport
In office 10 February 1986 – 24 July 1987
Personal details
Born	Colin William Martin Freeland (1933-01-31)31 January 1933
Died	10 April 2021(2021-04-10) (aged 88)
Nationality	Australian
Occupation	Public servant

Collin William Martin Freeland, AO (31 January 1933 – 10 April 2021) was an Australian public servant and policymaker. He is best known for his time heading the Department of Aviation and the Department of Transport in the 1980s.

Collin Freeland was born on 31 January 1933.^[1] He was awarded a Bachelor of Engineering,^[1] and moved to Canberra in 1969.^[2]

In August 1980, Collin was appointed to his first Secretary job, as head of the Department of Housing and Construction.^[3][2]

In May 1982, Collin was appointed Secretary of the Department of Aviation.^[4][5] In February 1986 he was transferred to head the Department of Transport.^[6][7] When departments of the Australian Government were restructured in 1987, he was appointed an Associate Secretary of the Department of Transport and Communications.^[8]

Between 1988 and 1990, Collin was chief executive and managing director of the Civil Aviation Authority.^[1][9]

In September 1992, Collin was appointed Chairman of the National Road Trauma Advisory Council.^[1]

Collin died on 10 April 2021, at the age of 88.^[10]

More Detailed history of Collin Freeland's life, as written and presented by Phil Bowen:

Collin Freeland was truly a giant among men. He was a man of faith and lived

the values that many of us aspire to but so few of us actually achieve.

Col, as he was known to his friends, rose to the highest levels of his profession.

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 1988 Queens

Birthday Honours in recognition of his public service.

Despite his success, Col remained humble as was his nature. But Col’s humility

could never be construed as weakness. To the contrary. Col’s humility belied a

steely determination to achieve his objectives, for example in often difficult

negotiations with the leaders of the transport industry.

Col was always courteous, a good listener and welcomed the opinions of

others. He treated everyone with the utmost respect, no matter whether they

were a Government Minister or a junior staff member. Col saw them all as

playing a valuable role that deserved his respect. As a result, he generated

huge loyalty from his staff and colleagues and was highly respected in a wide

range of circles.

As a family man, Col was without peer. His family meant everything to him.

His wife Dawn was the love of his life and he was so proud of his five children,

eight grandchildren and his great grandson John William who he was delighted

to welcome into the family in September 2016.

Just a few weeks ago Col was very excited to be able to attend the marriage of

his granddaughter Kristy-Ann to Alfred. He was also very proud of his

grandson Jacob who has proven himself as an award-winning winemaker. I am

sure that Grandpa also enjoyed sampling some of Jacob’s excellent product

from time to time.

Col spent his early years in Sydney attending St Aidan’s primary school in

Maroubra and later Marist College Randwick. Unsurprisingly, he was part of

the school leadership group and was awarded the 1949 Character Cup. He also

participated in the debating team and the school cadets.

Growing up near the beach, it is no surprise that Col enjoyed body surfing,

boating and fishing, including spear fishing.

Col’s first job at age thirteen was sorting letters for the PMG. When grandson

Edward’s first job was at Australia Post, Col enjoyed sharing reminiscences with

Ed of his time with the Post Office.

Col was awarded a University Cadetship in 1949 and graduated from the

University of New South Wales with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1954.

Col undertook National Service through 1954 and 1956.

Col didn’t let the grass grow under his feet and he married Dawn in April 1956.

This was a wonderful marriage that lasted for almost sixty years until Dawn’s

untimely passing in December 2015.

Col and Dawn initially resided in Sydney where both Cathy and John were born.

They moved to Melbourne in 1960 where Denise and Paul came along. After

eight years in Melbourne the family relocated to Canberra. It was in Canberra

that Greg appeared on the scene.

In Canberra Col quickly took on increasing levels of responsibility within the

Australian Public Service.

Col was appointed to his first Secretary job as head of the Commonwealth

Department of Housing and Construction in August 1980. In May 1982 he was

appointed Secretary of the newly created Department of Aviation where he

remained until February 1986 when he was transferred to head the

Department of Transport.

Following a major consolidation of Commonwealth Departments in 1987, Col

was appointed an Associate Secretary of the mega Department of Transport

and Communications.

In June 1988 Col was appointed the inaugural Chief Executive and Managing

Director of the newly created Civil Aviation Authority. The CAA had

responsibility for regulating aviation safety and providing airways services on a

cost recovery basis. Having successfully set the CAA on a sound trajectory Col

retired from full time executive roles in December 1990.

But this was not the end of Col’s contribution to public life. Far from it. He

subsequently took on a variety of non-executive roles, including Chair of the

Australian Maritime Safety Authority, Chair of the South-East Economic

Development Committee and Chair of the National Road Trauma Advisory

Council.

In this latter position Col was rightfully proud of his role in making it

compulsory for all cyclists to wear helmets. He was very pleased to quote

statistics showing the benefits that this initiative has achieved.

What a distinguished career he had.

On his retirement Col maintained regular contact with a range of former

colleagues. He particularly enjoyed his monthly ‘Old Boy’ lunches where he

enthusiastically contributed to discussions aimed at resolving the world’s

problems. And no lunch was complete without an order of honey prawns,

Col’s favourite dish.

Col was a man of many talents and a wide range of interests.

He designed and supervised the building of three family homes and was a

talented home handy man and renovator. He even built the family’s first

television set. He also tinkered with cars. Interestingly, his first car was a T

Model Ford.

Col also bought the family a caravan. It will come as no surprise that the van

had been in an accident and he rebuilt it. That caravan saw many a holiday

travelling with family and friends around Australia.

Holidays always had educational value for the children. For example, the first

big holiday for Cathy and John was to the Snowy Mountains Scheme. I can

only imagine the lesson the two of them got from Col on hydroelectricity

generation. Always the engineer.

Col passed on his passion for building and renovating to all of his children. He

was happy to help out with family projects when he could and was never short

of useful advice. Col was very proud of the fact that his youngest son Greg and

his partner Rowena have almost completed building their house from the

ground up, no doubt with valuable knowledge and skills passed down from

father to son.

Col also had a great love of music and for many years he and Dawn held a

season pass to the Canberra Opera. His tastes in music were eclectic and

included musical theatre, especially Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Andre Rieu, Nana

Mouskouri, the Seekers, and his beloved Irish melodies.

In anyone’s book Col lived a very full and fulfilling life. A life of public service

and dedication to his family. A life worthy of celebration.

Col’s love and support of his family over the years has been repaid with

dividends many times over, particularly in recent times. He has been very

fortunate to have such a loving and supportive family to help care for him in

his final days.

Collin Freeland, farewell old friend. You will be sadly missed, but you will live

on in our memories as an absolute giant among men.

Phil Bowen

16 April 2021

Freeland was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in June 1988 in recognition of his public service.^[11]