A true Maltese gentleman passes away in Canberra

Joseph A. Caruana, a former Acting High Commissioner for Malta in Australia passed away early on Sunday. He died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Hughes, in the Australian Capital Territory.

Mr Caruana was first posted to Australia in 1950 when the Office of the Commissioner was in Melbourne. He returned as first secretary in 1967, by which time the office had moved to Canberra and become a High Commission following Malta's independence.

Although he spent the greatest part of his public service career in Australia, Mr Caruana also served time with a Maltese Mission to the United Nations prior to becoming head of the protocol division in the Department of Commonwealth and Foreign Affairs.

In 1978 Mr Caruana was made Acting High Commissioner, a post he held for over four years at a difficult time when relations between Australia and Malta had deteriorated significantly. This was to become one of the bitterest episodes in his future life and right up to the end of his life, he felt betrayed by the Maltese government which he served loyally.

Successive administrations failed persistently to acknowledge his position and he felt that they discriminated against him by not paying him the allowance that he felt was due to him, as they had done to other employees in similar circumstances. Not so long ago he told me that they realised the discrepancy and the Estacode had been amended in later years to deal with acting appointments overseas because of the anomaly in his particular situation.

Mr Caruana was dearly loved within the Maltese community. In 1986 he chaired the seminar in Parkville from which the Maltese Federal Council emerged. He was appointed its first president ad interim. Mr Caruana was a gentleman in all the true meanings of the word and he earned the respect of all those who came in contact with him whether they were Maltese, Australian or from other nationalities.

Mr Caruana suffered a stroke some weeks ago but he was recovering rapidly from its effects and had returned home. He retained his humour and continued telling his jokes till the very end.

He was born in Sliema in 1918. He married Therese (Tessie), née Formosa, and they had eight children. There are also many grandchildren and hundreds of friends who are mourning his loss.