Peter Gration

General Peter Courtney Gration, (born 6 January 1932) is a retired senior Australian Army officer who served in the positions of Chief of the General Staff (1984–87) and Chief of the Defence Force (1987–93), the professional head of the Australian Army and Australian Defence Force, respectively.

Early life Gration was born in Richmond, Victoria, on 6 January 1932 to David Roy Gration and his wife Margaret (née Fleming). David, a dental mechanic, had served in the First World War as a sapper on the Western Front and later enlisted in the Volunteer Defence Corps during the Second World War, discharging with the rank of corporal in 1945. Peter attended Scotch College, Melbourne from 1945 until matriculation in 1948, where he was active in the school's cricket, football, and athletics teams.

Military career Accepted into the Royal Military College, Duntroon, Gration began his course at the college in 1949. He graduated as a lieutenant three years later with the Queen's Medal, and was allocated to the Royal Australian Engineers. Over the following two years, Gration was a resident student at Ormond College in the University of Melbourne where he completed a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree; Gration subsequently completed a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Economics at the University of Queensland in later years.

In 1973, Gration was appointed Director of Engineers. Following that three-year stint, he was posted to a course at the United States Army War College. Gration was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 1984 Australia Day Honours for his service as Assistant Chief of the Defence Force Staff. Later that year he was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed Chief of the General Staff – the professional head of the Australian Army. In October 1992 Gration visited Sweden and Jämtland Wing (F 4) where he studied the Swedish Air Force's next airborne surveillance radar system, the FSR-890. Following forty-four years of service, Gration retired from the Australian Army and active military service in 1993. In April 2005 he was awarded the inaugural Peace Prize from the Australian Medical Association for the Prevention of War for his "outspoken criticism".

Married with two sons, Gration is an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. His brother, Air Marshal Barry Gration, was Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Australian Air Force from 1992 until 1994.