Robert Frederick Bird Wake

Robert Frederick Bird Wake was born in Melbourne in 1900 and died in Sydney 1974. After leaving high school he joined Naval Intelligence on Garden Island, Sydney. He worked undercover in the New Guard and was sent to Noumea on intelligence gathering work. In the mid 1930s he joined the Commonwealth Investigation Branch was sent to Brisbane to run the office there. After the start of World War Two he joined Military Intelligence, reaching the rank of Lt. Colonel. He retired from the Army in 1943 and took charge of the Commonwealth Security Service in Queensland. After the war he joined the Commonwealth Investigation Service. In 1949 he joined ASIO in Sydney as operational director. After Geoffrey Reed left ASIO and Charles Spry took over, Wake resigned and was transferred to the Department of Public Works as a payroll officer. He retired early from the public service in medical grounds and for awhile worked for Sir Frank Packer's Suburban Publications.