Sir Peter Richard Heydon CBE (9 September 1913 – 15 May 1971) was an Australian public servant, policymaker, and diplomat.
[1] He was educated at Fort Street Boys' High School, and in 1936 joined the Commonwealth Public Service in the Department of External Affairs,[1][2] soon after having been admitted to the NSW bar.
[3] In 1942, Heydon married Muriel Naomi Slater, a Canadian who had been his personal assistant during his appointment to the staff of Richard Casey in Washington.
[4] From 1943 to 1944, Heydon served with the Australian legation to the Soviet Union which had just opened at the wartime capital of Kuibyshev.
[10] He died of a heart attack on 15 May 1971,[1] and was remembered by the prime minister, William McMahon, as one of the best-liked and respected public servants in Canberra.