John Keith McCarthy

John Keith McCarthy (20 January 1905 – 29 October 1976) was an Australian public servant in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. He rose to become Director of Agriculture, also serving as a member of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly. In Papua New Guinea, he was known as 'Papa Bilong Ol' (Everybody's Father).

Biography McCarthy was born in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda in 1905 to Mary (née Gibbs) and Thomas McCarthy. His father was an immigrant from Ireland and worked as a warehouseman. after which he was a jackaroo in New South Wales, before returning to Melbourne to work at Mark Foy's. He then went to Queensland, where he worked as a cane cutter. He returned to Australia in 1929 to complete a course at the University of Sydney. In 1955 he became executive officer of the Department of the Administrator, before returning to Melbourne in 1971, where he died in 1976 at the age of 71. His widow Jean donated his papers to the National Library of Australia. This collection included private diaries covering 1927-1971, correspondence, reports, maps, seminar papers, manuscripts, photographs and McCarthy's original cartoons.