James Cumes

James William Crawford Cumes (23 August 1922 – 21 November 2013) was an Australian author and economist and a former public servant and diplomat.

Life and career

Cumes was born in Rosewood, Queensland in August 1922. He was educated at Wooloowin State School and Brisbane Grammar School, before matriculating to the University of Queensland.

During World War II, Cumes was in the Australian Army, and fought on the Kokoda Track.

Over the course of his diplomatic career, Cumes was High Commissioner to Nigeria (1965–1967), Ambassador to Belgium (1975–1977), Ambassador to Austria and Hungary (1977–1980), and Ambassador to the Netherlands (1980–1984).

In his 1988 book A Bunch of Amateurs, Cumes critiqued the performance of Australia's foreign ministers, offering an unfavourable assessment of then Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Bill Hayden.

In a review of Cumes' 1990 book How to Become a Millionaire Without Really Working that appeared in The Canberra Times, Peter Bowler praised Cumes for his sunny, cheerful, sensible and interesting take on money-making.

Cumes's wife was Austrian. He moved between houses in Australia, Austria, Monaco and the South of France. He died in Vienna, Austria in November 2013 at the age of 91.

Works

Non-fiction

• The Indigent Rich: A Theory of General Equilibrium in a Keynesian System. Pergamon Press Australia. 1971. ISBN 0080175341.
• Inflation! A Study in Stability. Pergamon Press Australia. 1974. ISBN 0080181678.
• Their Chastity Was Not Too Rigid: Leisure Times in Early Australia. Longman Cheshire. 1979. ISBN 0582714567.
• The Reconstruction of the World Economy. Longman Cheshire. 1984. ISBN 0582714966.
• A Bunch of Amateurs: The Tragedy of Government & Administration in Australia. Sun Books. 1988. ISBN 0725105518.
• How to Become a Millionaire Without Really Working. Sun Books. 1990. ISBN 0725105933.

Fiction

• Haverleigh. Cresscourt. 1994. ISBN 0646212869.
• The Young Bug. Cresscourt. 2010. ISBN 9781452862361.