Garry Woodard is a retired ambassador and honorary senior fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. He graduated in Law from the University of Adelaide in 1951, and entered the then Department of External Affairs in January 1952. From 1970 to 1973 he was the first head of the National Assessments Staff in the Joint Intelligence Organisation, Department of Defence. He was Ambassador to Burma 1973–75, to China 1976–80, and High Commissioner to Malaysia 1980–83. In 1986, took an honorary appointment in the then Department of Political Science at the University of Melbourne and wrote widely. He was national president of the Australian Institute of International Affairs from 1991-1993.