General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove retired from the Army in 2005. Four years earlier, he had been Australian of the Year: “In every respect Peter Cosgrove demonstrated that he is a role model. The man at the top displayed those characteristics we value most as Australians – strength, determination, intelligence, compassion and humour.”
The son of a soldier, he attended Waverley College in Sydney and later graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1968. He was sent to Malaysia as a lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. During his next infantry posting in Vietnam he commanded a rifle platoon and was awarded the Military Cross for his performance and leadership during an assault on enemy positions.
In 1972 he served a year as ADC to HE the Governor General and then returned to regimental life as a Company second in command, then Adjutant and then as a Company Commander in 5 RAR and then 5/7 RAR in Holsworthy Sydney. After that came a spell as an instructor at the Army’s Infantry Centre in Singleton, NSW.
Then it was off to the USA for year with the US Marines but now with a young wife, Lynne and their first-born, Stephen. The next twenty years saw the family grow to three sons and a wide variety of defence force postings, including extended duty in the UK and India. During this period he commanded the Army’s 1st Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, receiving the AM for his time in command in 1983/4. He was honoured to be invested with this award by Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace in 1985, during a period of service in the UK as the Australian Army’s exchange instructor at the British Army’s Command and Staff College Camberley. Later he commanded an infantry brigade and attended the Indian National Defence College in New Delhi.
In 1999 Peter Cosgrove became a national figure following his appointment as Commander of the International Force East Timor (INTERFET). He was responsible for overseeing East Timor’s transition to independence during, what was to become, a tense and uncertain period. The International Force rapidly and decisively restored law and order and handed over to another UN force early in 2000. For his leadership of INTERFET he was subsequently advanced to the rank of Companion in the military division of the Order of Australia, and was invested by Her Majesty the Queen at Yarralumla during her visit to Australia early in 2000.
He was soon promoted and made Chief of the Army. He went on to be promoted again to General and was appointed Chief of the Defence Force. Peter Cosgrove retired from the Army in July 2005.
Subsequently, he accepted positions on numerous boards, including QANTAS, Cardno and the Australian Rugby Union. He was appointed by the Queensland Government to lead the taskforce rebuilding communities in the Innisfail region following the devastation caused by Cyclone Larry in 2006. From 2007 to 2012, he chaired the Council of the Australian War Memorial, and served as Chancellor of the Australian Catholic University from 2010 until early 2014.
General Sir Peter Cosgrove gave the Boyer Lectures series, A Very Australian Conversation in 2009. His best selling autobiography My Story was published in 2006. He was named Australian of the Year in 2001.
On 25 March 2014, Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced that General Cosgrove would become a Knight in the Order of Australia when sworn in as Governor General. His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd) was sworn in as Australia’s 26th Governor General and he served in that role until June 2019.
Sir Peter is an avid sports follower with particular emphasis on Rugby and Cricket. He is the husband to Lynne and they have three sons and two grandchildren.
