Born in 1899 Bert Port joined the Department of Defence in 1915. By 1939 he was in charge of the Finance Secretariat, which oversaw the financial management and programming of the Department.

The Defence budget required total revision on the outbreak of war, and Port was responsible for a second and revised Defence budget in the 1939-1940 financial year, influenced by the formation of the War Cabinet. He took charge of the non-strategic and non-operational aspects of the War Cabinet work and remained in this capacity until the end of the war.

Vincent William Quealy

Vince Quealy was born in 1901, joining the Department of Defence in 1917. As Secretary of the Defence Committee at the outbreak of the Second World War, he became involved in the War Cabinet Secretariat dealing with matters of strategy, policy and operations and on higher appointments in the defence forces. After the War, he was responsible for the transition of the forces to a peace time footing.

Port and Quealy’s work became increasingly important as the war progressed.

Alan George Salisbury

Alan Salisbury was born in 1917, and started work for the Department of Defence in April 1934, working for the Finance Branch, where he acquired a basic knowledge of Treasury systems. In 1938, he transferred to the Finance Secretariat where he worked under Bert Port and assisted in the formulation of the first three-year Defence Programme. In January 1941, he transferred to the War Cabinet Secretariat, where he remained until it was disbanded in early 1946.