Alfred Conlon

Colonel Alfred Austin Joseph Conlon (7 October 1908 – 21 September 1961) was the head of the Australian Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs (DORCA) in World War II. A controversial figure, he influenced events throughout the Pacific region in the second half of the 20th century, through the Australian School of Pacific Administration (ASOPA), which grew out of the directorate.

Career Conlon's parents were Arthur George Conlon, tram conductor, and Esther Mary, née Hayes. He was born at East Sydney and was educated at Fort Street Boys' High School and the University of Sydney, graduating BA in 1931. He studied philosophy under the realist Professor John Anderson. He began to study medicine in 1932 at the University of Sydney but interrupted the course to work as a law clerk and get married (in January 1936). The following year he returned to his medical studies and represented undergraduates on the university's senate in 1939–43. He also served as a (military recruitment) manpower and education officer in 1940–41. and notorious, Conlon created the mysterious DORCA in part as a haven for artists and intellectuals to avoid repeating the slaughter of the best minds of a generation that had impoverished Australian culture in the First World War. Conlon was influenced by his first philosophy teacher, John Anderson, and by James Burnham's The Managerial Revolution, a book extolling the virtues of a bureaucratic meritocracy.

Conlon was a charismatic figure, and had many friends in high places including H. V. Evatt and Herbert "Nugget" Coombs. He cultivated many contacts including Prime Minister John Curtin and General Thomas Blamey. In 1944, with Roy Wright, General Blamey and Howard Florey, Conlon developed the proposal for founding the John Curtin School of Medical Research.