Plimsoll was appointed the Australian representative on the United Nations Commission for Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea (UNCURK) in 1950, during the Korean War. When UNCURK was established in October 1950 the war was expected to conclude quickly. However, by the time of its first meeting in Seoul in November, China had intervened and unification and rehabilitation was no longer possible.[citation needed]
While other UNCURK delegates wanted to leave Korea, Plimsoll persuaded them that it was important that a high-level civilian presence should remain in Korea. UNCURK then moved to the southern city of Busan, along with the Government of the Republic of Korea and played a valuable role in communicating between the Korean Government, the UN military Command and the United Nations in New York. It also observed Korean elections.[citation needed]
Plimsoll had a considerable influence on President Syngman Rhee, to whom he conveyed the views of the United Nations and the troop-contributing nations. He also expressed the Western nations' concerns about Rhee's undemocratic behaviour and abuse of human rights.[4]
Diplomatic career
Plimsoll in 1965
In 1953, Plimsoll returned to Department of External Affairs.[5] He was appointed as Australia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in 1959 and he became Australia's High Commissioner to India and Ambassador to Nepal in 1962. In 1965, he became head of the Department of External Affairs.
In February 1980, Plimsoll was named High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, replacing political appointee Gordon Freeth. He was the first career diplomat appointed to the position.[6] However, in November 1980 the government announced that his term would be cut short in order to appoint another political appointee, Vic Garland.[7] This decision proved controversial in both Australia and the UK. It was reported that the British foreign secretary Lord Carrington told a public function that Plimsoll had been "treated very shabbily", and that both Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had expressed their surprise at the shortness of his term.[8][9] The Administrative and Clerical Officers Association, a leading public-sector union, described the appointment as "another example of the Fraser government's shoddy disregard for the career Public Service".[10] Plimsoll left London in March 1981 and took up his final diplomatic post as Ambassador to Japan.[11]
In November 1981, it was announced that Plimsoll would succeed Stanley Burbury as Governor of Tasmania. His nomination as governor was one of Doug Lowe's last actions as premier.[13] Plimsoll was sworn in as governor on 1 October 1982. He had no previous connections with Tasmania but had visited it a number of times.[14] He was only the second bachelor to serve in the office, and he took on all the patronages normally held by the governor's spouse. He was popular in the state and his appointment was extended at the end of five years.[citation needed]
Plimsoll suffered a mild heart attack in May 1985.[15] He died on 8 May 1987 following another heart attack, hours after attending a ceremony marking the anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea.[16] His death came in the middle of a constitutional crisis relating to the Liberal Party's unwillingness to allow John Devereux to fill the casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Australian Labor Party senator Don Grimes.[17] Plimsoll was accorded a state memorial service at St David's Cathedral in Hobart, attended by the Governor-General of Australia and four other state governors. His remains were transported to Sydney for interment.[18]
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