Sue Boyd’s career involved coups, floods, the Stasi in East Germany, The Pacific Solution, Disarmament and Outer Space, as well as The Portuguese Carnation Revolution and The Timor Crisis.

As a pioneering woman in the foreign service, Boyd discusses the importance of forging her own career path in the face of adversity. Boyd also provides an insight into the significant changes that the foreign service has undergone since she joined, as well as why she found such a career so worthwhile.

Dr Sue Boyd joined DFAT in 1970 and served in Portugal, East Germany and at the UN in New York. She was High Commissioner in Bangladesh and Fiji, Ambassador in Vietnam, and Consul General in Hong Kong. 

Interview by Flavia Bellieni Zimmermann.

Video and editing by Nancye Miles-Tweedie.