Since Australia then had no representation in Bangkok, Canberra asked the Swiss to inform the Thai government on 2 March that it had declared war on Thailand.

Eastman was appointed consul and participated in Anglo-Thai negotiations taking place at Singapore even before royal assent to his consulship was obtained.

The Thais did try and imprison former Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram in order to forestall any Allied tribunal before signing the Anglo-Thai Peace Treaty on 1 January 1946.

The government in Canberra considered withdrawing him from Bangkok at that point, but he urged his retention so long as the process for determining compensation claims lasted.

[4] In 1950 Thailand agreed to pay £6 million in compensation to the governments of Britain and Australia for wartime damage to their tin mining operations.